January Gigs
by MX5
Summary: Formerly Vegas. January is a busy time for the Blues Brothers showband. From Buster getting attacked by a man who pretended to be his father, to the Vegas blues showcase getting burned down, to the Queen Mary out in Long Beach California where some of the band have spooky adventures.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Coincidence?

Buster Blues, now 15 years old, burst out of the apartment shared by him, Mack and Elwood. The teenager shut the door, went down the stairs, and exited the building in a hurry. He tossed his house key in his pocket and took off down the street, not stopping until he reached the corner where the bus station was.

Taking up a bus map, he ascertained which one was to head to the further north side of town and boarded it when it came in. The ride would take a few minutes and Buster checked his watch, seeing that it was quarter to midnight. He heaved a heavy sigh, knowing that Elwood had just set off for Willie's to cover the late shift with Mack. The teen looked around furtively on the bus, checking for any faces that might be familiar to him, but there were none. Half in relief half in disappointment, he counted the stops until it was time for him to get off.

The teenager had been asleep in his bed when he heard a noise from the fire escape and he knew a thief had just come in. Elwood had taught him what to do in case that happened, as they did live in a slummy side of Calumet City, and Buster followed Elwood's instructions to the letter. He had immediately ducked in the closet, picked up his schoolbag, and stuffed some of his clothes in it. His cell phone and charger had been within easy reach, fortunately, and he managed to get out of the apartment without being noticed by the criminal.

"This your stop, kid?" the bus driver asked as he opened up the double doors with a rusty squeak. Buster checked the building out in the low light and grunted an affirmative. "Be careful, all right?" Buster thanked him politely and stepped through the doors to the apartment building. The building didn't have an admittance system with buzzers, so he walked right in, trying to remember which apartment it was exactly. Pulling out his cell phone, he leaned against the brick wall as he entered in a cell phone number and started a search.

"Upstairs and to the left," he muttered, clicking the phone off and pocketing it. Hoisting up his backpack, he started upstairs and took in the surroundings. The hallway was painted a pale green and it had dark paneling like the mismatching of the color scheme was deliberate, though it was very contemporary looking. A door adorned each side and a window was on the hallwa wall. Buster looked around carefully, not wanting to make a mistake, found apartment 9C. Three loud knocks later, the door opened up, revealing Melody Calloway.

"Buster," she let him in. "what happened?" he put his backpack down beside the couch and sat on a chair near the table. Melody sat down near him, still dressed in her jeans and pink t-shirt she had been wearing that day. The apartment had not altered its appearance in the last several years since Alan had moved back in with her, though some of her landscape pictures had been replaced with her and Alan in various scenes. Buster shot a look over to the biggest framed picture, which was of everyone in the band including himself. A framed photo of Jake stood on one wall shelf.

"Who is it?" called another voice from the bedroom.

"It's Buster, Alan." Melody called back.

"Sheesh, can't he tell time? Now's not the time for a visit!" he proclaimed, irritated at being woken up.

"Sorry, Alan." Buster told him.

"Alan, something's happened or Buster wouldn't be here right now. Don't you ever think about that? Old fart." Melody grumped good-naturedly, producing a snort from inside the bedroom. Buster giggled.

"Someone broke into our apartment. Elwood told me what to do when that happened, so I did it."

"Good. Can you text Elwood and tell him what happened? Also tell him you're staying here tonight so you'll be safe."

"Will do." Buster pulled out his phone again and nodded towards the bedroom. "Most old guys mellow out, do you think he has?"

"Alan? Hell, no!" Melody smirked. "I'm the loose one, he's the uptight one."

"You were uptight last night!" Alan spoke out. "Remember? I wanted to-"

"Not in front of Buster, you old fart!" Melody barked out quickly, turning an embarrassed shade of red. Buster laughed loudly as Melody told him he had to get ready for bed. The teen had shoved a long coat over his pajamas so he wouldn't arouse suspicion walking down to the bus station and he'd brought enough clothes for the next day or two. Melody situated him on the couch, made sure he was comfortable, and her cell phone went off.

"Thanks for taking care of the kid. He has school tomorrow and I'll pick him up tomorrow night. Mack's dealing with the cop report." she read aloud the text from Elwood. Buster yawned and fell asleep almost immediately as Melody turned off the light and left the living room.

Alan was waiting for Melody to come to bed, lying on his side and looking at her. She smiled and did a turn for him so he could admire her ass in jeans like he always did. The trumpet player always said that nothing made her ass look better than a well tailored pair of bootcut jeans. Winking at her, he watched as she put on her night attire and slid into bed next to him.

"Kid all right?" Alan draped his arms around her as she shut her eyes. Alan wasn't overtly fond of kids, but in the recent years they'd done summer tours and Buster had grown on everyone. He'd helped make set up a lot easier with Melody and he was an expert on doing sound checks now as well. The teen had taken up learning piano which Murph helped him with, and Buster was also learning some electric guitar from Matt and Steve.

Melody smiled. "Yes he is. Buster's very smart for his age."

"Tell me about it." the teenager had been curious about the trumpet, prompting Alan to give him a little primer on his instrument. Buster had dutifully listened, complimenting Alan on his playing skills. Neither Melody or Buster could make a sound come out of that instrument and both had joked that it didn't like them. Melody could read music, but she couldn't play an instrument to save her life.

"Before I forget, Mack called earlier on today. He said something about a string of gigs going down to Las Vegas."

"I'd love that." it was January, so they all would look forward to a winter warmer down in Sin City. Alan had a hard time getting his car out of the driveway after the last snowstorm and nearly hurt his left shoulder by the shoveling. Melody had to come down and show him how to rock the car out of the drift. Snowdrifts were rarely a problem for her, as she'd never fail to point it out to him. Melody had become a German engineering snob, pointing out the merits of all wheel drive and demonstrating her driving skills which never failed to make him nervous. Alan only tolerated it because he liked the car a lot and was thinking about getting another Mercedes. He'd had to ditch the 300SL as he'd dumped the clutch and it wasn't worth fixing and he'd had an offer for it he couldn't refuse. The SL line had been replaced with the SL AMG line, which was way out of his price range, but that didn't turn him off Mercs in general. Maybe he could work something out with Matt.

"Me too." sleep pulled them under.

Buster yawned and woke up at 6 AM so he would be ready for school at 7:30. Alan was already up, being an early riser by nature, and making up coffee. He had about 4 funerals to take care of that day so he had to be at the funeral home by 8 AM to get everything all set up. Melody was nowhere to be seen, but they heard some thumping around in the bedroom that told of her getting her clothes together for the day.

"Morning, Buster," Alan greeted him as he sat up. "you drink coffee yet?"

"Nah, not yet. I don't have a taste for it anyway." spying a goldfish bowl on a side table, he crossed over to look at it, kneeling down a little bit to see it clearly. "That's not a goldfish."

Alan chuckled. "No, that's a betta fish. He's a veiltail betta if I remember right." he stirred his coffee and took a drink of it, welcoming the warmth it brought on that chilly morning. The trumpet player liked it black and strong while Melody drank it on occasion, preferring the lighter cappuccino drinks and lattes.

"A what?" a small fish in shades of brilliant blue and red came out from behind a small resin statue of a sunken ship. The fish swam inquisitively up to Buster's finger and drew back, flaring his gills for a moment then stopped, evidentally deciding Buster was a friend and not foe.

"They're Siamese fighting fish," Alan explained. "you could only keep one male at a time or else they'll fight. I had one growing up."

"What's his name?"

"That one there's named Denali."

"Odd name." the fish swam around crazily like it didn't know where it was going.

"Want to give him a treat? See the jar with the yellow top on it?"

"Yup."

"Those are bloodworm bits. You can give him one." Alan sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out the newspaper from its plastic sleeve. "Mel will be up pretty soon. She's got meetings today." he took a drink and set the mug down with a small clunk. Buster watched Denali gulp down the bloodworm bit like he couldn't eat it fast enough. Chuckling, Buster watched as the fish swam in a circle and hightailed it back to the sunken ship.

"See you've met crazy Denali." Melody came into the room then, putting her hair up into a ponytail. She still worked part time for the law office firm, so she was wearing a pant suit in deep blue and a light blue long sleeved button up shirt. "He's a crazy son of a bitch." Melody dropped a pair of low heeled black pumps on the floor with a little rattle and stepped into them.

"How so?" Buster stood up.

"He likes to look at himself in the reflection of the glass and he gets mad. It's like he wants to fight himself." the engineer grinned widely. "I've seen him do it."

"Weird."

"I know. Ya hungry, kid?"

"Oh yes!"

"Help yourself. Alan, will you help me for a minute?" she held out a small amber heart necklace set in silver that he had given her for Christmas that year. Alan took it and fastened it around her neck, noticing she already had the earrings in. They set off her features nicely and she gave him a smile as he kissed her on the lips. After they were all done breakfast, Alan stood up and announced that he had to get to work. He kissed Melody, told Buster they would be on the road again soon, and left for the funeral home.

"Ready to go?" Melody buttoned on her long black greatcoat and hung her purse on one arm. Buster went downstairs with her and slid into the golden colored Audi. He pressed a wooden panel and it slid up neatly, retracting back, revealing a stereo system with an MP3 player input. The climate control looked needlessly complicated, but Buster wasn't going to touch it. It was cold outside and Melody put on her heated seat after explaining the control to Buster, he turned it on as well.

"Nice car!" it was the first time he'd ever been in it.

"Why thank you!" Melody slid the key in and turned it, firing it up. "I've been pro German car for several years and I don't regret it!" she slid the gearshift into drive and left the parking lot. Buster, too used to the Crown Victoria that Elwood drove, ran his fingers along the rich leather and the wood paneling. The car purred and every down or upshift in gear was smooth, though Buster could barely hear the engine running. It seemed to glide in and out of traffic until they pulled up in the drop off zone for the high school.

A few kids gaped at the car, making Buster feel good. Melody caught his glance and laughed as he opened up the door, pulling his backpack out with him. "Thanks for the lift. Are you picking me up?"

"What time do you get out?"

"Two PM."

"All right, I'll be here."

"See you then. Thanks!" he shut the door and walked off as Melody drove out of the circle.

"Is that the one for the morning service?" Alan asked as two of the attendants brought in a casket.

"Yes sir." one answered him.

"Room 4." there was to be a viewing and a makeup person had to attend to the remains. It was an optional service that many families took, though Alan didn't like the idea personally. He believed that someone should be remembered of how they looked in life rather than in death. Melody thought the same way as he did, telling him that she absolutely forbade viewing when her aunt and father died. There had been pictures in front of the caskets to remind people of what they looked like in life and nothing else. Alan doubted the memory of a loved one lying in a box would be of any comfort to anyone, but he was just the funeral director.

"Right away, Mr. Rubin." he helped them wheel the casket in and shut the door. Downstairs, his associates were waiting for him as he had to retrieve a body from a hospital morgue. The family was Jewish and to his knowledge, the burials usually happened very soon after the death had occurred. It had been a nuisance to him and his staff, but he didn't want to offend anyone so he took it as it came. It was business to him after all and he couldn't afford to be picky.

In the converted Cadillac hearse, he drove to Calumet General with another one of his staff and pulled into the cargo bay area where the hospital received its supplies. A smaller garage door on the left was the one he wantd, so he backed up the hearse near the door and parked it. He and his associate went into the morgue office and called for the attendant.

The attendant noted the pickup time on a legal document that had been signed off by the executor of the estate, the attendant signed to confirm that the body had been transferred to the funeral home, and Alan countersigned that as well. He and his associate, along with the attendant, took the body in the plastic black bag it was encased in, and loaded it up into the hearse.

Back at the funeral home, Alan checked that the 4 funerals that day were going along smoothly as possible, then he completed the paperwork, called the groundskeepers at Greengrove and Beechwood cemeteries to let them know what was going on. Two of his associates went to bring one body to a memorial service, two more tended to another service, and Alan had to go with the third and fourth services. Fortunately they were within an hour of each other, and both were within the same cemetery.

Content to let one of his associates drive that day, he settled back in the Cadillac and waited for the light to change. The band had toured last summer, their popularity had gone up since the battle of the bands years ago, and it was during their last gig in Toronto that the crowd had gotten rowdy towards the end and the guitar section had been the target of some drunkards. It had been at the end of the night and the gig was over, when Matt, Duck and Steve got accosted backstage by some drunkards who'd managed to get in past security. Alan had grabbed Mack, who was built more like a bouncer than anyone else, to deal with the 3 drunks. Mack was well versed in self defense, as his years at Willie's had taught him many things. The bartender was attending the gym with Melody once a week and the drunks never had a chance with him around. Mack had thrown them out with ridiculous ease, the guitar players were happy that none of them had gotten hurt, and Alan was pleased to see that Mack could stand his ground. He'd been impressed with Mack's voice and the way he almost made it sound like Johnny Cash on some occasions.

"We're here." the driver announced, turning the hearse around and backing up to the main door. Alan got out with a sigh.

The third service ran late and by the time they were done, Alan was about ready to deck the executor of the estate one in the face. The pompous ass acted like a spoiled brat and commandeered the service, making it all about himself and how he had to live with his mom who was wasting away from disease. By the looks of the mourners assembled in the church, Alan knew that this idiot was far too used to getting his own way, probably by his mom spoiling him during childhood. He clenched his hands and inwardly prayed that the service would be over soon. When it became clear that it was going to drag on, he had to make a point.

Clearing his throat and standing up, he said loudly, "Sorry, but I have another funeral today to do. We need to finish up here."

There were several relieved looks among the people and the pompous man glowered at him but he got his way.

At Beechwood cemetery, Alan chattered with the groundskeeper a distance away from the graveside service and when it concluded, he helped the groundskeeper and the vault delivery person put the casket in a vault, seal on the lid, and took the lowering device off the gravesite. The vault person attached lines to it, used the crane on the back of the truck to pick it up and lower it into the hole.

Alan's job was done there, so he let the groundskeeper fill in the hole while he did the same thing to the other grave. After all his years doing the job, cemeteries still creeped him out, though Melody told him she thought they were very serene and comforting to the bereaved, to know their loved one's remains were put in such a tranquil place. Jake wasn't buried at Beechwood, which relieved the trumpet player in a small way, knowing that Jake's spirit wasn't watching him. It was odd but he felt that way whenever he visited the late bandmember's grave. Melody spoke of that once or twice, but far from creeping her out, it comforted her. Alan had looked at her like she was crazy, but if that was how she felt, he wasn't going to argue with it.

"Hey hey!" Melody honked the Audi's horn as she pulled up to behind the hearse. Alan's smile brightened as he saw her. "Fancy lunch out with your old lady?" they still were not married, but jokingly called each other husband and wife. Alan had been starting to think he wanted to at least get engaged to her. Melody had never given voice to any thoughts of marriage or engagement to his knowledge.

"Sure, why not? Jerry, I'll be back at the home in an hour." he called out to the driver and left the graveyard.

"So where do you want to go?" Melody signaled for a turn and left the side street.

"How about Applebee's?"

"Sounds good to me!" Melody's cell phone buzzed but she ignored it. Alan had a cell phone for work but other than that, he didn't own a personal one. He could almost always be around Melody and it wasn't unusual for bandmembers to text her and ask him to call them on their cell phones. Melody loved technology and was always immersed in it, more than making up for Alan's lack of technology on his part. Educating him was a real challenge and sometimes she just didn't get through.

"This asshole of one of the funerals today really set my teeth on edge."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Everything was about himself, just the me me me thing."

"Spoiled brat syndrome?"

"You got it. He spent most of the time telling everyone what great care he took of his sick mom, never giving anyone else a chance to speak at all. What a pig!"

"Now his mommy's gone and he'll have to start finding new ways to annoy people."

"I would hope that asswipe's learned some humility after that." they pulled into the driveway of the restaurant and Melody parked the car. Locking it with a flick of the remote, she tucked her keys in her purse and allowed Alan to join hands with her as they went in.

The restaurant was deserted so they had the whole place to themselves. Putting in their order, they gossiped about their work and Alan asked her how the meetings wore.

"Stupid. I'm just the receptionist, I don't need to know anything about those morons I work for anyway."

"What are you doing this afternoon?"

"I'm picking up Buster from school at 2," she answered him. "then after we get his situation straightened out, I was thinking about repairing the amps I have from the music repair shop." Melody freelanced for several music shops including Ray's Music Exchange. She had been taking repair courses in fixing instruments, mostly brass. It was fortunate that by coincidence, Alan had a stuck valve in his trumpet and she loosened it up by applying a very small dose of an acid.

When 2 PM rolled around, Melody was ready to pick up Buster. She pulled into the drop off and pick up zone and put the car in park, idling for a few minutes. Something wasn't right, she knew that in a flash. The schoolyard was completely silent when it should have been full of kids boarding the busses to get home.

The engineer saw a mother and her teenage daughter run from the front doors. Lowering her window, Melody shouted, "What's going on?"

"Fire!" the mother barked out and kept moving. Melody saw a telltale plume of smoke billowing out of the building and she reversed the car, driving around to the back. Parking it hastily, she moved through the throngs of teenagers shouting Buster's name.

"Melody!" Buster flung himself at her, nearly knocking her down. She embraced him tightly and after telling Buster's teacher she was taking him home, they got into the Audi and left. White faced and shaking, Buster could hardly fasten his seatbelt on. He was in shock and Melody knew it would take a little bit of time for him to process what had happened and she held off questioning him until they arrived back at the apartment.

Once they were safe behind the brick walls of the apartment complex, Buster sat down on the sofa and answered a text message from Elwood. Melody's phone buzzed and it was a text from Mack, saying that he and Elwood were on their way over right away. The fire had been on the news and everyone was worried now. Buster had to send out a text to all the bandmembers, telling them that he was all right. Melody thought that perhaps there had been a connection with the robbery and the fire to target Buster, but she wouldn't tell him her suspicions yet. He didn't need the extra worry.

"Can you tell me what happened, Buster?" she asked soothingly.

He looked at her, his blue eyes still wide with fright and before he knew it, it all came flooding out. "I was in science class dissecting a frog, and I don't really know how the fire happened, but something exploded in the back and it hit a trash can, igniting it on fire. The room got really dark and smoky, I couldn't see, but I remembered to get down on the floor and crawl towards the door. Then I got out and just stood there with the others. One of my friends told me that he heard someone calling my name and I saw you."

"You're not hurt anywhere?"

"No."

"You're one extremely smart and lucky boy-excuse me, man." she amended with a little smile. Buster grinned. At that same moment, the door burst open, revealing Elwood and Mack. After fervent hugging and reassuring the others that he was all right, Buster explained to them what had gone on and they calmed down some.

"Thank you, Melody." Elwood and Mack took it in turns to hug her.

"None necessary. I just wanted to make sure that Buster here was all right. How about the apartment?"

"Well, I filed a breaking and entering cop report, but the weird thing is that nothing was stolen." Mack replied. "I can't understand it. Buster's Wii, the laptop and our cell phones were still there."

"Very strange." Elwood echoed.

"Buster, you want to feed Denali over there? Just take a few fish flakes from the jar and break 'em up into smaller pieces, then sprinkle them on the water." she handed him a small jar with a red top.

"Sure." Buster went over to the bowl and knelt down, doing what Melody told him to. Denali wiggled his fins and steered himself right for the food, shooting upwards like a missile launching.

"Guys," Melody said in a whisper. "I think these incidents are targeted to Buster."

"Isn't it too soon to be thinking like that?" Mack questioned.

"I hope to God that I'm wrong." she answered. "We should be aware."

"Should we warn him?"

"No, Elwood. I don't want him feeling like he's to blame for all this." Mack said immediately.

"I defer to Mack for that," Melody agreed. "this is between us and we should tell the band anyway."

"Agreed."

"Good. We start packing up tomorrow and we have some gigs before we reach Vegas." Elwood became businesslike. "There's a winter festival thing going on, a few blues venues, but the granddaddy of them all will be in Vegas."

"Which place, El?"

Elwood grinned widely. "Treasure Island at the Bellagio."

"Oh, nice!" Melody was excited already. Last summer they'd done a Canadian tour of Ottawa and Ontario, and Melody enjoyed it, but she still preferred going south where it was warmer. The door opened up again and Alan came in, going over to them and spying Buster.

"I'm glad you're all right, kid," he sank down in an armchair. "I heard on the news driving home of the fire and I don't own a cell phone."

Buster looked a little amazed at Alan, who was one of the least emotional people he'd ever known. Alan liked to joke around and all that, but he never let his other emotions show except a little impatience now and then. The teenager didn't think anything of what the three were talking about before Alan came in as he stood up and brushed the dirt off of his jeans. Denali tried to follow him, launching himself at the surface of the water like a miniature blue torpedo, then he stopped and eyed the teenager as he walked over to the others.

"Damn! Mel, can you help me get this thing off?" Alan stood up, fingers all tangled together in his tie. Melody sighed and stood up.

"How you play a trumpet when you can't even undo a tie is beyond me." Mack and Elwood laughed as Alan shot her a death glare. "At least you're not looking British anymore."

"Ascots were easier to tie." he retorted, going back to the bedroom to change. Melody turned her head to see the three men behind her laughing openly now.

"So who wants supper, yes?" having partaken of her fare before, all of them were eager to accept the invitation. Buster was old enough now to help her more and she set him to work. Since Alan didn't like to cook much, Melody had gladly taken over. When she was a kid, she had loved to help her father in the kitchen and he passed on his recipe for the perfect spaghetti sauce and meatballs. Melody followed the recipe to the letter, the smell of the simmering sauce taking her back to her childhood. Buster was practically slobbering all over himself by the time she dished it up.

"That was amazing," Elwood complimented her when they were done. His color looked better as well, as Melody suspected he didn't really take care of himself very well. Whenever he came over, she would try to feed him up a bit. The singer only resisted feebly, too happy to do her skill justice.

"Save room for the dessert," she said teasingly. "I'm glad I made these yesterday."

"What are they?" even Alan didn't know.

"It's called panna cotta."

"Where is it from?" Mack helped her bring out the small bowls.

"Italy. It's a cross between pudding and a gelatine." they all dug in.

"So what do you think?" a few hours later after the trio had gone home, Melody parked herself next to Alan on the couch, telling him of her suspicions.

He glanced over at her as she flicked on the TV. "It could make a lot of sense, Mel. We know nothing of Buster's background, his parents and all that. It's a real mystery."

"One I would prefer not knowing of," she grunted. "if his dad or mom have come back to take him away, they can't. The adoption was finalized and irreversible. Buster's happy where he is."

"Damn straight. Anyway, maybe you're blowing this up out of proportion. Coincidence."

"Not to me, but I hope you're right, Alan." her eyelids started to close as he put an arm around her. Soon she was dozing off but still faintly aware of what was going on around her.

"Sure you're all packed for tomorrow, Mel?" Alan glanced over at her and turned off the TV. Melody gave off a noise that sounded like a yes and shaking his head with a small grin on his face, Alan pecked her on the forehead, bringing her to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Epidemic

During the night, Alan woke up and could not get back to sleep. He had spells of insomnia off and on so he lay supine, listening to Melody's breathing next to him. Though she had acted no different from her usual self, he knew the incidents-the break in and the fire at Buster's school upset her. They all were fond of Buster, though Melody probably felt a little differently, he thought. Alan often thought that Melody was like a surrogate mother to Buster. The trumpet player remembered when Melody herself was being hunted by a psychopath who had murdered her aunt, and for a time after that excitement had calmed down, Melody had been reluctant to go outside on her own.

Melody had been recovering from a gunshot wound and 2 weeks after she'd been hurt, they were home and Alan was looking after her. She would jump a mile if anyone entered the apartment, if Alan left, she had anxiety attacks and severe insomnia for weeks afterwards. Since she had talked Alan into psychiatric help after his father died, he had done the same to her with a successful result. He'd given her space enough to cope with the damage she had suffered from the incident, and quite frankly, Alan was starting to get irritated from the stress.

During one of Melody's insomnia attacks, he'd awakened to find her sitting at the window and gazing out over the street. It was then he'd pitched the idea of psychiatric help to her, knowing she would not resist. Melody had psychiatric appointments before and she relented easily. Alan had gone with her on the first appointment to support her, and they both left feeling cautiously optimistic about the future.

Thinking about it retrospect, Alan grinned wryly. Melody had to be strong for him when his father had died, taking care of him like he was an invalid, encouraging him to just vent his grief and frustration. It had been his turn to be strong for Melody after the incident with the murderer. Neither one of them were resentful about what had happened to them and neither one of them had ever felt sorry for themselves because it happened at all. Each had surprised the other with their inner strength and resilience in overcoming obstacles.

They were stronger as a couple now than ever before. Alan turned to face Melody and watched her sleep for a long moment. She'd given him a few scary moments, like when her asthma had flared up a few times, but she'd never had a full on attack that he could remember. The engineer managed her symptoms like a pro and she rarely let it get out of control.

The insomnia went on for a little while longer and though Alan did not want to use medication for it, Melody had told him that just relaxing and thinking of funny memories might help, so he decided to try it.

Moments later he was indeed falling asleep.

Early on the next morning, Elwood pulled up in the old Bluesmobile, shouting a greeting of good morning. Matt followed him in a 4 year old Mercedes ML 350, which was Mercedes's answer to an SUV. There was plenty of head room and cargo space, even a 3rd row seat in the back. Alan and Melody opted for the Mercedes or Merc this time, having had enough of the Ford after Elwood's stunts 5 years ago.

The usual gossip proceeded as they went on down the road and gradually petered out. Melody put on her MP3 player, putting on her shades and mentally rocking out to the tunes.

When they stopped for lunch, Melody's cell phone rang and she was forced to stay outside in the cold and answer it as it was from her work. Buster wasn't hungry yet so he sat down on the trunk of the Ford and watched Melody pace back and forth, barking at people through the phone. He admired her for sticking to her guns and speaking her mind.

Finally she shut her phone off with a sigh and joined Buster with a weary smile. "Aren't ya hungry, kid?"

"Not yet. I got stuff in the car in case I do. You?"

"Same. Alan gets a bit paranoid at times, sometimes asking me if I'm starving myself. The answer is always no, but he only asks that because he's concerned about me."

"I bet. Is he going to marry you sometime?"

"Meh. I don't care about that side of things, Buster. We're happy, so why change it now?"

"You don't want to make it official or anything?"

"Nah."

"Well..."

"Got a girlfriend yet, Buster?"

"I had one a few months ago but she broke up with me."

"Well that bites, don't you think?"

"I hope I have a relationship like you and Alan, Mel. If you don't marry him, at least he's there for you."

"That's right. I have a lot to be thankful for."

"I heard you got attacked while touring with the band once. Elwood wouldn't go into it and Mack knew nothing about it. Will you tell me?"

"Well, I suppose," she outlined the story, starting with her aunt's murder, her hookup with the band through their agent, the first gigs, the band's discovery of her voice, Alan's growing attraction towards her. "we'd just gotten comfortable with each other and were friendly when the murderer cut the brake lines in my Mustang that I owned back then. I kept myself out of a major accident, but I did manage to bang myself up pretty good. Alan helped me out, getting the number of the repair shop. He checked on me that night and found that I could not sleep after the accident. Alan comforted me, and this was the guy I had thought was cold and aloof, and when I asked him to stay with me that night, he did."

"Stay?"

"Head out of the gutter, kid. It was all platonic. I felt like I needed to be guarded that night and he did it." she smiled at the memory. "We got friendlier after that and he rode with me once my car was fixed. It was the next night I think that I was shot in the shoulder."

"What?!"

"The murderer who axed my aunt shot me in a drive by shooting. It was in my shoulder and Murph took me to the hospital where I needed surgery to clean it up. Alan, Jake and Elwood came to get me the next morning and we continued on as usual. Jake declared I had to have a bodyguard all the time and wouldn't hear a word against it. The night of the gig, the murderer came and attacked me onstage. He got me by my bad shoulder and gave it a vicious twist, I saw red and blacked out."

"Holy shit."

"You're telling me, Buster. Jake tackled the guy, the cops came and hauled him off, Elwood checked my injury to make sure that my stitches weren't torn and they weren't. Jake roused me and I felt well enough. When Alan and I came home, I couldn't leave the apartment for 2 weeks because I was convinced someone was out there to get me. Alan handled it pretty well for the first couple of weeks, just comforting me when I needed it, understanding that I needed time to process everything. It had worn him down eventually and he told me that I needed to get help."

"What kind of help?" it had begun to snow.

"He was very calm and rational about it, telling me that I needed the kind of help that he couldn't give me. Alan took me to a shrink I had seen before and my mental state started improving. I really needed that help, I got it, and I'm me again. I'm quite happy I don't have anxiety or panic attacks anymore, and I can travel around without worrying someone is going to get me."

"I'm glad of that," Buster chucked a rock across the parking lot idly as the bandmembers came out of the restaurant. "what kind of scar did it leave?"

Melody laughed. "I got a nice 2 inch one." she showed him.

"What are you two doing out here in the cold?" Elwood called as he unlocked the car. "Come on, let's get to the hotel."

"How far is it now, Elwood?"

"We spend the afternoon driving Mack, we should get there by 5." he answered as he slid into the car and started it up.

Once more Melody put on her MP3 player while Alan chatted with Lou about insomnia. Both of them were getting older and found they had bouts of sleeplessness though infrequent. Lou recommended various strategies to cope with it, but Alan thought that Melody's suggestion was the best one and he'd stick with it.

At the Doubleday hotel, the band brought in their bags, checked in and got themselves arranged in their rooms. Melody and Elwood were chattering away out in the foyer when Buster came in. "El, it's Mack, he's sick."

"How bad?"

"Bad." Mack was quite ill and gray in the face. Melody directed him to hit the sack immediately which he did without comment. A few minutes later, the guitar players plus Willie had it, then Elwood and Murph became ill. The horn section fell sick as well, leaving Melody and Buster unaffected.

"You know what this means, Buster?"

"No, not exactly."

"Everyone here's got food poisoning. We're unaffected because we were too busy talking," she nudged him. "They'll be fine by tomorrow, they just need to rest until then."

"Right." Buster watched Melody put a cold compress on Alan's forehead. He was the most severely stricken and having a room to themselves, Melody had no complaints. He was asleep but uneasily as a low grade fever spiked up.

"It might look bad, but it isn't," she told him. "his body is telling him to get rid of the mess and that puts his temperature up some. It'll go down soon."

"Oh. I remember I had strep throat last year."

"That's right, you did," Melody stood up and sat down on a chair near Buster. "I wanted to come and see you but I didn't want to get sick myself."

"I understand that. I didn't want anyone visiting me in case they got sick," Buster sounded mature beyond his years suddenly. "I got pretty sick and Elwood nursed me through it. Mack and he traded shifts to look after me."

"Doesn't getting sick blow?" Melody commented. "A few years ago I had a bad cold and I swear that I almost hacked out my lungs!"

"You know what? I'm starved now. Let's go grab something."

"All right, Bus. These guys will be OK on their own for an hour or two."

When the alotted hour passed, Melody and Buster entered the hotel room to see Alan stirring feebly. Melody hurried over to him, shoving her purse on the bureau and taking his hands in hers. Buster stood by and watched as she sat on the edge of the bed and calmed Alan down a bit. He muttered her name a few times, submitting easily to her minstrations.

"Come on Alan, lie down now." she coaxed, applying a little pressure to his shoulders. The trumpet player seemed to wake up a bit then and his eyes fastened onto hers.

"I feel like shit." he grumbled, lying back down as Melody checked his fever.

"Everyone else does too, except me and Buster." she chuckled, putting the cold compress back on his forehead. "You'll be all right by tomorrow."

"Why can't it be tomorrow today?" his eyes closed.

"Don't get me started. I'll be right here with you, Alan. Buster's here too."

"Is he sick?"

"No. I just said he wasn't. Anyway, we'll be here if you need us, all right?"

"You're too good to me." he said drowsily and Melody shot Buster an amused smile.

"You must be getting delirious then." the engineer removed her hand and sat on the other bed with Buster, playing card games. Melody taught him Rummy and he won a few hands, but Melody still won the game.

"Let's see what's on TV." Buster picked up the remote and started flicking through the channels, searching for something of interest while Melody didn't care in the least what he picked out. Soon they both were engrossed in BBC America's Doctor Who TV series and Melody had to admit that the current doctor, David Tennant, was very cute looking and the fact he was Scottish with an accent, made him even more appealing in her eyes. She loved men with accents. Alan had once joked about that, saying that he was from Brooklyn and he had the local accent, telling Melody that her northeastern accent was funny to him.

"Hey Mel?" Alan stirred awake with Buster's question but kept his eyes closed.

"Yeah, kid?"

"Did you and Alan ever think about having kids?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"We're not the parental type of people, Buster. Besides, we're far too career oriented then and now."

"I don't buy that," the kid was more perceptive than Alan had thought at first. Truthfully, Alan and Melody had talked about many years ago, and with their lifestyles ones of constant traveling, both had mutually agreed that it would not be fair to subject children to it. The couple had great parents to pattern themselves on, but neither one wanted to be a parent.

"Come on, Mel..." Buster wheedled. "there's more to it than that, isn't there?"

Melody told Buster what Alan had just been thinking of. Buster argued, saying they'd have been great at raising a family, but a long silence on Melody's part just made him more curious.

"Buster, I should clarify something with you. Even Alan doesn't know this." Alan nearly opened up his eyes. He thought he knew everything about her, what was there to hide?

"Shoot."

"Right. Alan and I agreed on not having kids, right?"

"Right."

"Because we travel a lot and feel our lives are fulfilled enough as it is, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's not because I didn't want kids, it's because I can't have them."

"Really?" Buster sounded shocked and Alan definitely was.

"Really, kid."

"How's that even possible?"

"When I was a teen, not much older than you, I became extremely sick and the only drug that worked for me was a very powerful one called methadone. Everyone reacts differently to drugs, and shall we just say that was so powerful it destroyed my... downstairs, leaving me permanently infertile."

"Wow."

"You're telling me. I'm really glad I met Alan, even if he doesn't know about that part of me, so to speak. He treats me like a lady and doesn't act like I'm damaged in some way."

"He wouldn't leave you because you can't have kids, even if he knew back then," Buster protested. "he doesn't have it in him to do that."

For a moment, Alan wasn't sure if he was complimented or insulted. Melody chuckled and paused as Buster got up on the bed beside her.

"Don't you think it's moot point now?"

"You mean leave the past in the past?"

"Yes I do."

"OK, deal."

"Why don't you go check on Elwood and Mack? It's been almost 4 hours, they might be feeling better by now."

"Will do. Good night."

"Night, kiddo." the door opened and closed. Alan opened up his eyes and tried to look groggy like he'd just woken up. Melody was lying on the opposite bed, her shoes off, sprawled out facing him on her left side with her eyes closed. He got up and prepared himself for sleep, glad not to be wracked with cramps again. The trumpet player was no stranger to pain, as when he played, sometimes he got overzealous and a few times he'd pulled a muscle in his shoulder. When he was first learning, he had to build up his shoulder and pectoral muscle strength so he would be comfortable holding up the instrument for an extended period of time. Living in New York for a time, he'd been in a few car accidents, one was bad enough that he suffered a dislocated left shoulder and it had to be immobilized for a month. He was covered on long term disability leave, though at the time he felt he was going crazy from the inability to do what he loved.

"Mel?" the musician changed out of his streetclothes and touched her on her left cheek. The engineer did not stir and Alan didn't want to wake her up, so he got into the bed with her. A few moments after he turned out the light, he heard her stir a little bit.

"What the? Oh." she felt his hand and relaxed. "You've been a bit ill, so don't you dare try to kiss me unless you used mouthwash and brushed your teeth!"

Alan snorted as he laughed, pulling her to him. "Why don't you find out?" he gave her a big loud smack.

"Fine, I guess I can cope. At least your fever's gone."

"I'm feelin' more than all right, actually..." he slid his hand up her thigh, making her jump a little bit.

The next night, they assembled for a gig at a winter carnival. All of the band wasn't excited about performing in the chilly winter night on an outdoor stage, but they put up with it. The gig was high paying and that was all they were concerned about. The band had attired themselves in layers, ending in fleece jackets with gloves. The guitar players and Murph had cutoff gloves so that their fingers were free to play their instruments. Willie shivered backstage, clutching a mug of coffee he'd swiped from the catering table. He didn't care much for the taste, but it was warm.

"I hate the cold. I wish we were in Vegas now!" Buster huffed as he tucked his hands into his armpits. Matt cuffed him on the shoulder as he plugged in his amp.

"Come on, kid! It builds character." he and the others had recovered fine after their bout of food poisoning last night. Willie picked up his drumsticks and sat down as Steve and Duck started jamming riffs. Elwood walked onto the stage with his harmonica in his overcoat pocket, followed by Mack. They took their places and Melody stood beside Lou, ready to start. She wore a fleece lined heavy coat, leather gloves, and she had added a black pageboy hat with a bow on the left side. Her silver hoop earrings glinted in the light and she rubbed her hands together, shivering. There were a few small space heaters on the floor, but they didn't really do anything to help.

Halfway through their performance, it started to snow. The crowd cheered for it, but the band was not happy. It started accumulating on their shoulders and instruments, and the horn section had to make sure that their lips wouldn't freeze. When the gig was finally over, they were free to mingle with the crowd, but none of them thought to loiter around and take in the sights. Buster was interested in the ice sculpting, but he was more than happy to get in the car and get back to the hotel.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Arrival in Vegas

At midday after a stop for lunch the day after the outdoor gig, Elwood climbed into the Bluesmobile and tried to maneuver it out of the parking lot, but he kept spinning out and fishtailing.

"Elwood, stop. This is just sad." Melody interrupted him. "You're putting too much gas into it and you're going to jackknife the way you're going. You've got to go slowly."

"Remedial instruction." Duck remarked as he and Tom got into the back with Buster. Elwood listened to Melody and asked questions. Matt slid into the Merc and started it up. The two car caravan headed off down the road with Elwood leading cautiously. Matt was a good driver and Melody never questioned his driving skills, and he never made her nervous which Elwood sometimes did. She had still been active at the racing track days until they shut down for spring, finally managing to take first place at the local beach rally.

"We're gonna have some fun in the snow later on," Murph announced. "the next hotel is near a small park so we get to go and act like kids for a few hours."

"Well, that'd be healthy for Mr. Fabulous here," Melody poked him in the ribs. "he was born a 50 year old, I think."

Alan rolled his eyes as he tolerated the good natured chuckling from the other occupants of the car. In his mind, he was still going over the secret Melody had confided to Buster a few nights ago. It was odd, but he wondered if he could have noticed anything wrong with her, any clue of her behavior that would have given him reason to second guess her motive for not wanting a family. The trumpet player knew she'd had previous relationships long before she met him, and he supposed it was possible that someone from her past had found out about her infertility and treated her like she was a lump of filth. Just thinking about it made him mad, but that wouldn't get him anywhere.

To everyone's relief, they did not fall sick again, though Alan had some reason to worry about Melody. The long night in the winter outdoor gig had been harder on her than the others, as she wasn't used to it. The engineer would be sick at least twice every cold and flu season, so Alan had to wonder if the second bout was coming up. She didn't look or act sick, but from experience, the trumpet player knew it was coming.

He was right. While everyone else was outside enjoying the snow and sunlight, Melody was lying on the hotel bed and flipping through TV channels and if Alan was also right in his suspicion, there was a faint flush in her cheeks.

"You look ill," shutting the door, he joined her on the bed. Melody didn't have the heart to wave him off like she would have normally. "how about a nap before supper? Think you'll feel somewhat better after that?" Alan firmly put a hand to her forehead. "You're a little flushed."

"I know," she groaned. "of all the times I could get sick, it had to be now!"

Alan chuckled. "That's just the way it is, Mel. Get some rest and I'll look in on you later on."

"Fine, bossy." obediently she closed her eyes and sank down into the bed with a little sigh. Alan peered out the window, seeing the guitar players face off against Buster, Tom, Low, and Mack in a snowball right. Willie, Murph and Elwood were building a snowman nearby them, Elwood scolding Buster when a wayward snowball hit him in the back. The trumpet player decided to join the guitar players in the right, so he grabbed his heavy jacket and gloves, going outside into the cold sunshine.

_"All right, Melody," she opened up her eyes and looked up to see she was in an operating theater, cloaked in a standard gown with a woven cotton blanket draped over her. "I'm going to give you the presedative injection, all right? It might make you dizzy."_

_"Right." the anesthetist, wearing blue scrubs, picked up her left hand where she had a small IV line installed. A syringe was produced and he injected the correct amount into her line. Melody felt a slight burning sensation when the medicine entered and that was it. It took a moment to produce the effect that was described, and she felt like she was on a drug high. Lights were turned on, she was outfitted with sensors for the heart monitor, and she was put on an operating table._

_"You're all wired up for sound," the nurse announced. "let's get this show on the road."_

_"Right on." the doctor put a mask over Melody's mouth and nose, telling her to take deep breaths. She complied meekly as the nurse took her arms and tied them back. The operating room seemed to start breakdancing and she had to shut her eyes._

_"Mel?" what was Alan doing in an OR?_

"Come on Mel, wake up."

Confused, she opened up her eyes and saw Alan sitting on the edge of the bed, eyeing her with a concerned look. "Hey, how do you feel?"

"Sick." she replied grumpily. "Mostly my throat hurts."

"Well, it happens," it sounded lame but that was all Alan could say. "do you need anything?"

"A new throat."

Smirking, he stood up. "You know that's not in my power to do so. I thought I'd touch base with you before we go out to supper tonight. Be all right by yourself?"

"I'll be fine." she waved him off, pretending annoyance. "Go with our pals and have fun. Just drink a beer for me, all right?"

"You must be feeling better already then," he playfully mocked, pretending to back up to the door. "we'll be in Vegas the day after tomorrow and you should feel to some degree better!"

"Out before the sight of you makes me even sicker!" Melody teased, making Alan laugh and leave the room.

When they arrived in Vegas, Melody didn't feel well enough to check out the scene and go with the others to gamble a little bit and all the fun stuff. Elwood and Alan were both uneasy at leaving her alone, but she told them she would go with them another time. So, Buster, Mack, Elwood, and Willie went to walk the strip, Murph, Tom, Lou, Duck, went out to gamble at one of the casinos. The venue had put them up at the Hilton, which was top notch and services were complimentary. Matt, Steve, and a reticent Alan went to Caesar's Palace to see a show.

Buster, still being too young to gamble or drink, went back to the hotel room about two hours after he'd originally left. The teenager had promised Alan that he would check in on Melody from time to time and alert him if she seemed worse. Unlocking the door, he entered the room to see Melody asleep in the dark. She had been looking somewhat better, at least her fever was gone now, but she was still off color a bit.

"Hi, Melody," Buster saw her eyes open up. "feel any better?"

"Eh," she sat up slowly. "about the same."

"Do you think it's the infection thing from long ago coming back?" Melody rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"The thing that destroyed my downstairs return?" she shook her head. "I doubt it. Could be another infection down there. Some people are prone to them."

"We should get you to a doctor, Mel."

"Alan's been saying that for the past day or two." the trumpet player seemed to worry more about her own health than she did.

"He's worried about you." he watched her go into the bathroom and brush her hair. "There's a first care center near here."

Melody sighed. They weren't going to leave her alone until she did something. "All right. Let's leave a note and I'll get dressed."

"OK." Buster dashed off a note in an untidy scrawl, putting it on the bed. Melody grabbed her ID and a few other things, sticking them into the pocket of her jean shorts. The teenager locked the door, took Melody's arm, and led her down to the elevator. Buster was as tall as Melody was now, and many would mistake him for her son. When they received those comments, both would just smile and nod. He pressed the button for the elevator and both heard the soft ding of the chime.

Buster texted Elwood: Managed to get Melody to a first care center for her flu bug. Will report soon.

Elwood texted back an acknowledgement as they left the hotel foyer. Buster steered Melody in the correct direction of the center and to their collective relief, there was nobody else in the waiting room. A well dressed man was standing idly outside the nurses' station, making eyes at one of them. Melody thought the guy would have been handsome if he'd bothered to shave off his stubble and gotten a proper haircut, as he was unkempt and had scraggly shoulder length hair. He wore a pinstriped suit, his face was lined and scarred, making him appear as old as 60.

"Name?"

"Buster Blues and Melody Calloway." the man ogling the nurse shot a glance at the two people, then turned and left the room. Melody forked over her insurance card and ID, then she was admitted. Buster made fun of her bright pink bracelet ID which she endured in good humor, and they were taken over to a private room. A phlebotomist arrived and drew some blood to run tests on, then a doctor came in and examined her.

"I'm pretty sure you have a rotavirus. This strain makes you feel tired and it does affect your throat. I want to check a throat culture to see if you've got strep as well."

"Wonderful," Melody sighed. "if I do?"

"I can give you some palliative drugs that'll treat your symptoms. Viruses are resistant to drugs so you have to wait it out. From what you both say, you've been ill for 3 days already so I'd say you're getting well slowly."

"Too slowly." the doctor laughed and cuffed her hand gently.

"I know. Those tests won't take long though."

Buster had to admit that the tests didn't take very long at all. Melody was given several doses of various medicines. The engineer tested negative for strep and several other diseases, so she was given a small dose of antibiotics to build her up a bit, and a sedative to keep her comfortable while the medicines started their work on her.

"Damn!" Buster's cell phone rang and he picked it up, almost dropping it. "Yeah?"

"That you, Buster?"

"Yeah, Elwood."

"Alan and I need an update please."

"Melody's got some kind of virus and she needs to be kept for a few hours for all the medicine to work."

"Can Alan talk to her?" Buster heard slot machines and loud sound effects from the casino in the background. Someone was hitting it big, he supposed.

"She's been given stuff to make her sleep."

"Oh. Are you in the center just down the street?"

"Yep."

"OK, Alan's coming down and I want you back up here. It's late and we all need sleep."

"Right, Elwood." Buster yawned. He clicked off the phone and put it into an interior pocket in his cargo pants. As he left, the well dressed guy was still ogling the nurse and Buster felt the guy's eyes on his back, making him shiver as he walked through the doors.

When Alan arrived, a nurse showed him to where Melody was lying, and offered to get him a cot to sleep on. He gratefully accepted, leaning over to check on Melody and see for his own eyes that she was all right. She seemed fine to him, so deeply asleep that she did not respond to him when he called her name.

"She's been sedated, Mr. Rubin, so I wouldn't try waking her up for a few hours." the nurse checked the blood oxygen saturation level and affixed a cannula to Melody. Seeing Alan about to question her, she explained, "the sedative, even a short acting one like this one, does repress breathing a bit. Her oxygen saturation level in her blood isn't what it's supposed to be. When the sedative wears off, it'll be fine again."

"OK." Alan understood. He took off his shoes and got onto the cot, lying so he was facing Melody. The nurse chuckled, happy to see such devotion between the two people, and left.

Melody woke up the next day, feeling very dizzy and nauseated. The day nurse gave her medicine to quell her symptoms and told her that she was free to go. Alan guided her back to the hotel, having been warned that she would sleep most of the day. Lou and Tom had seen her enter the hotel room, and both of them were shocked to see their friend's face was white. Matt and Steve had brought her flowers from the whole band and put them on the bureau.

Still too drowsy to notice much of anything, the engineer wearily got into her pajamas and collapsed into bed, immediately sinking into a more restful sleep than before. Under Alan's watchful eye, Melody sank down into the bed and sighed, closing her eyes. The trumpet player sat down beside her on the bed and checked the mark on the back of her hand where the needle had been put in. Melody made a pained face and pulled her hand away firmly and gently. Alan watched her sleep for a few moments, jumping when he heard the door open.

"Come on, Alan, let's go out." Mack wheedled. "She's safe here."

A shudder went through Alan's frame as he remembered her past. Murph noticed his friend's tension and gently steered him by the shoulder to the adjoining bed. "You get some sleep too, man. You look beat."

"That cot was really uncomfortable." he admitted, sitting down.

"There you go, have a nap." the pianist smiled. "We'll come get you for lunch, all right?"

"Right." his eyelids sagging down, the trumpet player curled up on the bed as Murph put a blanket over him.

"Sleep tight now." he left the room.

At the same time, Elwood took Buster and Mack down to the venue to survey the scene and set up what they would need for their performance that night. The venue was indoors, on a scale as grand as the old Palace Hotel, but much more elaborate, done in the Greek revival style. Buster had an interest in architecture and he was able to pick out the metopes, triglyphs and guttae decorating the outer rim of the stage. Two gold and silver tragicomedy masks were put right at the center of the top of the stage, and the curtains were a heavy damask red. Two fake granite pillars stood at either end of the stage to add more elegance. The teen, who had taken art history last year in school, recognized the pillars were Greek columns and they were the Ionic style.

"Wow, this place is great!" Mack laughed at Buster's eagerness.

"We're on tonight, kid."

"I can't wait!" they would be performing every night that week and Buster was quite excited, as he would take the stage and sing as well. Elwood conferred with the stage manager on the set list, checking it all and seeing with relief it was all songs that they knew. The venue wanted the band to open with Love Light and go from there. Melody was on with You Know I'm No Good and Mr. Saxobeat, and even Skyfall. Elwood hadn't heard her sing the song for many years now and he knew she would still knock 'em down with her voice.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Having Fun Yet?

Around 4 PM that afternoon, Melody woke up and felt like her old self again. The sedative had worn off completely, she wasn't nauseated anymore, and she felt ravenously hungry. Getting up, she took a shower and cleaned off the remnants of the previous day, attired herself in a knee length skirt that was boldly colored in tones of green and blue. Melody wasn't a fashionista by any means, but she did know an abstract patterned skirt needed an unpatterned top. She selected a white top that was sleeveless and had a deep V neck line, adding the amber heart necklace and fake diamond studs in her ears. Instead of the typical braid she wore for so many years, Melody pulled back the hair at her temples and just before her ears, pinning it back with rhinestone barrettes.

"Good enough." she muttered at her reflection. She was due to perform that night and kept her makeup bag in the trumpet carrying case Alan always had. Their instruments were locked up at the venue already, so they didn't need to worry about them. Melody put on a pair of sandals and went over to Alan's side.

The venue that week was a big corporate affair, put on by Maury Sline's record label Central Line once a year. Sline told them because of their influence and escapades running around over the continent, they were in demand. The corporation had voted unanimously for a blues showcase of their artists and some from other record labels, with the stipulation that the Blues Brothers be signed on. Some of the hype surrounding them had been due to Buster, now that he was growing up and looking more attractive to young teenage girls, some of it was because of Melody, providing a bit of eye candy to the males, and the rest of the hype was because of the music.

"Alan?" he didn't respond to her entreaty, so Melody smirked and leaned down, glad she had brushed her teeth earlier. Giving him a deep kiss, he woke up fully and wrapped his arms around her back, pushing her down so he could get more of her. Giggling, she teased him a little bit, but it didn't go any farther than that.

Alan nearly whimpered when she broke the kiss, still straddling him. Melody smirked as she playfully squeezed his hips with her pelvis.

"Did those drugs give you some nice side effects?"

"Maybe," she teased, squeezing him again. "all I know is that I did not put on these clothes to have to take them off again so soon! It can wait until later."

The trumpet player rested his eyes on her V neck shirt, licking his lips and giving her a wink. "Nothing has to come off, just unbuttoned for a few minutes."

"I said not now." Melody slid to one side rather ungracefully and fell off the bed. "Crap!" Alan burst out laughing as he saw her lying on her back with one leg still up in the air. She jumped up and smoothed her skirt out, giving him a little flash in the process. "Who's laughing now?"

"Awww," he whined. "I never have any fun!"

"Bullshit! Get up! Rehearsal time's coming up at 5."

"I don't wanna play unless I get some of this," he goosed her. Melody yelped and turned around with a big grin on her face. "in the janitor's closet again?"

"We'll see. No promises," the engineer smacked Alan's ass, the smile never leaving her face. "now back that gorgeous can of yours down to the elevators!"

"Yes ma'am." Alan saluted her as they locked up the suite and went down to the venue.

Rehearsal went very well for the group and they were permitted two hours to go to supper and do whatever they want. Mack, Buster and Elwood went out to a Penn and Teller show while some of the band went to catch the pirate show at the Mirage. Lou, Tom, and Duck stayed with Melody on the stage. Duck was replacing a snapped string, Tom was doing riffs on his trombone, and Melody was helping Lou to unstick one of the keys on his sax.

"Yeah, just wiggle it this way," Melody instructed him and the key popped open. "glad I took classes when I did!"

"So things between you and Alan have never been better, right?"

"Damn straight, Lou." she put her tools away.

"Well, maybe it's time to put a ring on it."

"God, you and Buster! I don't want to get married, Lou."

"Why not?"

"It's gonna seem silly."

"Keeping me in the dark here is silly," he retorted. "c'mon, Tom and I won't tell anyone."

"Fine." Tom joined the two sitting on the edge of the stage with their legs dangling.

"Suppose we do get married and he sees someone else he would prefer to me?" Melody asked so casually the two horn players were taken aback.

"The first step is engagement, Mel. Besides," Tom continued, seeing she was about to object. "after all this time, I don't think he'd want anyone other than you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"How can we not be? He still blushes like a schoolboy when you turn up, he always talks about you. You complete his world. He does the same for you, I can see it."

"Some things really are best seen at a distance," Melody muttered. "guess I can't argue about it."

"Don't even try with us," Lou joked. "we've both been married a long time."

Melody laughed and felt better about the whole issue now that it was resolved. She'd gotten more self confident in the years they'd known her, but Lou and most of the band knew that Melody always underestimated herself. When they first met her, she'd seemed very self assured and confident and she was, but not in issues of the heart. Because of her inadequacy or perceived inadequacy regarding her relationship with Alan, Melody had little bouts of self doubt and the am-I-good-enough-for-him questions. She simply didn't believe that she was worthy of a man's love, thinking there was always another person who was better than she was, of whom Alan would like more.

Tom and Lou regarded her problems like they always did, a very matter-of-fact conversation in which they'd politely tell her she was wrong, reassure her with their own experiences, and then Melody would start to perk up again. The engineer was doing just that, putting her things away and whistling.

"Pardon me," a blonde lady walked into the wings, looking like a Dolly Parton imitator. "are yeh Melody Calloway?"

"Indeed I am. What can I do for you?"

"Ah tell yeh honey, it's a real pleasure to meet yeh!" the lady chirped in a fake Texas accent. "Ah just bought an Audi A8 and ah would love to know what y'all think of it!"

Melody's jaw dropped open. She'd heard of A8s but they were extremely rare in Chicago. "Could I drive it?"

"Of course yah can!" the lady plunked the key in her hand. "No drag racing, mind ya!"

"Tom and Lou, come on! We're gonna have some fun!" Duck smirked and waved goodbye at them as he went to check out some of the other landmarks around the city.

The A8 was rare in the midwest as older folks with more money tended to own them in the southern states only. Melody had only seen one in Chicago with Oklahoma license plates on it. She was stunned by the long silver monster, aristocratic in length and bearing. Tom got in the backseat with the lady, Lou rode up front with Melody as she gleefully inserted the key and turned it on. A low purr emitted from the engine, making her think of a cat's purring.

"Let's have fun!" she put it into drive and circled the strip a few times. Alongside a casino where cars were parked around the block, Melody pulled up beside a Land Rover and shifted the car into park. "Watch this, guys!" she had seen it done on Top Gear where they went to Reno. She revved the engine a few times, then the Land Rover's car alarm went off. Tom, the lady and Lou burst into laughing as an irate owner turned the alarm off and flipped off Melody. "It's not my fault your car isn't German!" she mocked, glad it was dark enough so her face was hidden.

"God, that was fantastic!" Tom wiped his eyes as Melody did it to several other cars on the strip. She drag raced a Corvette down at a red light and almost won, tried drifting in a parking lot which was very different from the BMW she'd drive at races. Melody accelerated, turned the car one way and then the other, kicking out the tail end of the car which produced some wobbling but not much.

"It's all wheel drive which means you can't drift in it. Damn!" she swore, hitting the steering wheel. "If this was rear wheel drive, we'd all be singing a different tune!"

A cop pulled in nearby and Melody shrieked, "Hit the deck!" and they all crouched down low so they could not be seen.

"Well by gum, that was some of the best fun in mah life!" the lady said when the cop pulled away and went back out into traffic. "Ah thank yeh so much, but ah got to get this back to the parking lot. I'm a big fan of yers Ms. Calloway and ah love to see yeh at the races when ah'm in Chicago."

"Any time! I'm glad you love my driving." Melody shook hands with the lady and they left the lot, walking back to the Bellagio.

On the way back, several hookers were prowling about a block away from the Bellagio, looking for new clients. One of them accosted Tom, saying how much she loved the tall men and railroading him.

"Hang on there, honey," Melody did her best to imitate the A8 lady. "me and Big Daddy Pimp work this town! He's one of ours so hands off!" she rescued poor Tom who's face was beet red, and walked away, ignoring all the shouting. "Hey Lou, I noticed when you were younger you had long hair so you looked like Jesus. Now you look like Einstein."

"Is that a compliment?" he started guffawing as they rounded the bend and entered the lobby.

"Sure." she teased. "So what's the costuming going to be this time?"

"The band has to wear black pants and shoes-that'll never change, and we need to wear dark blue button up tops with a black tie that's got a matchng blue vertical stripe on it." Tom told her. "You can change backstage over here." he showed her the portable hanging rack with her outfit on it. "The rest of the guys should be here in about ten minutes for warmup."

"All right." she changed into the black skirt and tights, put her sandals on, glad they were black as well, and got into the blue sleeveless top. She obviously didn't need to wear a tie, so she put a black velvet band loosely around her throat which had a pewter pendant of an ivy leaf. Her hair was already done up, she dabbed on silver eyeliner, a bit of bronzer, a dab of blue eyeshadow, and dark blue-pink lipstick like she always did. Beside her microphone onstage she put her water bottle, knowing she'd need it before long.

"Damn!" Buster fussed with makeup nearby. "Mel, help me!"

"All right, kid. You see this foundation here?"

"Yeah."

"Too dark. To determine the right shade for you, rub a little on your arm right here. If you can see your natural skin tone through it, it's the right one." Buster found his shade and reached for a brush but she stopped him. "Use a sponge. It'll be more neat and even on your face."

"OK." he checked his reflection. "Thanks, Mel."

"Anytime, Bus." she turned around and ran straight against Alan. "Oh, where did you come from?"

"I was looking for you." Alan turned her back towards the wings and marched her into a little alcove. "What do you say?" he pulled at the zipper of her skirt.

"Did you do nothing today but sleep and jack off?" she laughed as he wasted no time in necking. "Don't smear the makeup and we don't need to take all of our clothes off."

"No?"

"Nope. I got on thigh highs." they shut the door and drew the shade down.

"Yeouch!" Melody said about 20 minutes later, putting a hand up to her heart.

"What?" Alan had pulled himself back together and he helped her stand up from the small desk. In response, Melody opened up her shirt and displayed her left breast, which was bleeding.

"Nasty. I'll grab the first aid kit," he left and came back, tearing it open and administering to his girlfriend's injury. "how did it happen?"

"What do you mean, how did it happen?!" she laughed semi-sarcastically. "I told you to go easy on my girls, Alan. They were sore and you made it worse by acting like a freakin' dog!"

"Oh, fine," he finished bandaging and Melody rearranged herself. "next time you get hurt there, call me first." he said with a wolfish grin on his face. Melody just laughed and left the alcove, shaking her head. Her boyfriend followed her, fresh from a rendezvous and the musician was now pink in the face. It was a tradition that they had started at Queen Moussette's, enjoying a sexual romp before showtime. The duo agreed that the coitus before showtime helped to alleviate stress and boost their morale, so they didn't see any reason to stop.

"There you two are," Elwood came up to them. "we go on in 2 minutes so places!"

"Yipe!" both of them ran for their places, picking up their instruments and microphones as the MC greeted the crowd and the band struck up Love Light.

Buster's solo song was by James Frey called How To Save A Life, a number he'd chosen because it demonstrated how much his voice had grown since first joining the band. Murph played the song and Willie joined in with a steady beat, Buster opened up his mouth and crooned the song perfectly. Elwood and Mack led the applause as the teenager smiled and bowed.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, Melody Calloway with Karmastition!" she put on her shades and went to center stage, returning Buster's high five and the music started.

"What goes around comes around, what goes up must come down. Now who's cryin', desirin' to come back?" Melody finished the song as Elwood, Mack and Buster were her backup singers. The horn section had to play the song out and they were done. Elwood started Rubber Biscuit, a crowd favorite, so Melody, Buster and Mack joined the horn section in doing backup vocals.

"What do you want for nothing? A rubber biscuit!"

Towards the end of the show, Melody sang Skyfall, of which she was nervous about, as she hadn't sung it on stage in a long time. She did not betray any of her nerves onstage, nor did Alan or anyone else know of her nervousness at all. The band played her in and Murph began the piano intro. Melody knew nobody could see her eyes because of the shades, so she closed them and concentrated on the words and the music.

When she was done, she looked up towards the ceiling and could swear that she saw Jake hovering there. He gave her a big grin and a thumbs up, then she seemingly heard his voice in her ear, saying he was proud of her. Melody hadn't sung that song since he died. In a blink, Jake was gone and the applause startled her.

"That was the most soulful song I've ever heard from you!" Elwood proclaimed. "Come on, give her a hand!" applause crashed over her in waves as she smiled and bowed. The encore song was Melody's favorite, Messin With the Kid, and since she wasn't needed for that tune, she sat down in the wings, a little overwhelmed at first, but soon brimming with pride. She was called out to take bows with the band and when it was over, they all felt like they were on top of the world.

"Mel, I can't believe you did that!" Elwood buttonholed her as they were leaving. "I've never heard you so soulful, so in tune with the music before!"

"Elwood, you won't believe this, but I think I saw-"

"Jake?" he supplied. "I think I did too."

"Really?"

"Yes indeed. He's looking after us, Mel." Elwood hugged his friend tightly and pecked her on the forehead. Both of their eyes were a little wet, but it cleared up quickly as they walked back to the hotel.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Buster

That night, everyone felt too wound up to sleep. They finally managed to around midnight, with the applause still ringing in their ears. Elwood was immensely proud of his band and most importantly, Buster. Mack's adopted son (and unofficially Elwood's son as well), had grown into a confident teenager with none of the usual problems a teen would be having. Buster had a few romances with girls and Mack had taught him not to take the romances too seriously, as he was still a teen and needed to mature some more. Fortunately Buster was more mature than other teen boys his age and he could take Mack's cautions seriously and consider them.

_When Elwood had been Buster's age, he had been in his final years at the orphanage. Jake was still around, despite having moved out with a girlfriend. He would stop by once a week and visit Elwood, promising to bust him out of the orphanage as soon as he turned 18._

_One night Elwood had been broken up with by his girlfriend and instead of meeting his brother in the activity room, he sat on the back steps of the building, trying to stifle the emotional tears that were threatening to fall. He'd have turned to Curtis normally, but he was away for the weekend on some family business._

_The girl's name had been Sara, and Elwood had fallen hard for her. She was a cute girl, curly blonde hair, blue eyes, bubbly and outgoing. Elwood being the exact opposite was immediately attracted to her. Sara was well put together as the other boys called it, having been lavishly endowed as soon as puberty hit her. When he was with Sara, all the other boys in the orphanage envied Elwood and Sara had been very sweet to him. They dated for 8 months, but then she set eyes on someone else and then broke it off to Elwood._

_"What's up, bro?" Elwood jumped. Jake had found him and was settling down next to him on the stairs. He lit up a cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke._

_"I just got dumped, Jake."_

_"Aw, that sucks."_

_"Yeah. She was real nice to me." Jake rubbed Elwood's shoulders gently._

_"What was her name?"_

_"Sara."_

_"Sara Hutchins? The broad with the big rack?"_

_"Yup."_

_"Man am I glad you're off of her," Jake exhaled. "she uses guys, Elwood. How long were you with her?"_

_"About 8 months." Elwood sniffled, accepting the tissue his brother handed him._

_"Elwood, did you give her cash?"_

_"Yeah, some from my job." he had a paper route in the mornings._

_"How much did you give her?"_

_"About 20 bucks."_

_"I'm glad it wasn't more than that," Jake sighed. "Sara likes to go out with guys who have money. She takes as much as she can and leaves the guy for the next one. You didn't fuck her did you?"_

_"No. She wouldn't let me."_

_"Good! Don't give away your virginity, El. No matter what, unless you're in love with a lady, sex is just a mechanical act unless there are feelings involved."_

_Elwood sighed. Given that he was Catholic, he'd be sent straight to hell even if he masturbated. "Jake, I just wanna leave here. It's too depressing and it's getting me down."_

_"I know, bro, I know," Jake sympathized. "I'm workin' on it. In the meantime, as soon as you're off school for the day, you can get a second part time job to keep you out of here. I think I know how to do it too."_

_"Where can I go?"_

_"Ever heard of a guy named Ray? His business is selling amps and instruments. He's looking for some part time after school help."_

_"The blind guy?"_

_"You'd never know it by the way he manages to get around, El. He asked me about you and I said I'd send you on. He's a great guy, really funny. It might be just what you need."_

_"I like Ray," Elwood wiped his eyes. "Thanks, Jake."_

_"You're more than welcome, bro." Jake smiled at him and stubbed out his butt._

Elwood brought himself back to reality as the singer saw Buster come into the room, looking a little put out. "What's up, Bus?"

"Cute girl down in the hallway here, never even looked at me." the teen pouted a little as he sat down on the bed. "Do you think a girl will ever notice me, Elwood?"

Elwood chuckled and took his hat off. "Yes but aren't you a little young for that sort of thing?"

"That's what Mack said."

"Do you think we might be right if we both tell you?"

"Aw," Buster whined. "I don't wanna admit adults are right, El! I'm a teenager!"

Bursting out laughing, Elwood replied, "I said the same thing when I was your age, Bus. Did this girl even see you?"

"Yeah and she kind of smiled at me."

"It's a start," he encouraged him. "why don't you see if you can find her and invite her to breakfast tomorrow morning? Don't leave the hotel, though."

"There's an idea! Thanks, Elwood." Buster's face lit up and Elwood, still chuckling, got into his pajamas and went to bed, hearing Mack snoring in the next room.

Buster went whistling down the hall and knocked on the door he'd seen the pretty girl go into. She opened up the door, revealing straight red hair and merry green eyes.

"Hi, I'm Buster from just down the hall."

"I've seen you around a bit." she giggled and blushed. Buster started to feel his own face get warm as he realized the girl was flirting with him.

"I've seen you too. Want to meet me for breakfast tomorrow morning?" he put a hand in his pocket and tried to look suave.

The girl looked amused at his attempt and shyly nodded yes. "Does 9 AM work well for you?" another nod.

"What's your name?"

"Alexandra."

"See you tomorrow morning then, Alexandra." he beamed and she began giggling again.

The door closed and Buster pumped his fist in the air, beaming triumphantly. He was so jazzed up from his successful invitation that he barely noticed a well dressed man standing around the corner from where he was walking. The teen decided to head to the lobby for a soda, not knowing that the man was starting to follow him.

When he turned around from the vending machine, he thought he saw a shadow but shook his head and proceeded to the elevator, bumping right into the man.

"Hello, sonny." Buster saw the guy in the suit with several scars on his face.

"Hi." unnerved, he stared straight ahead.

"Aren't you from the Blues Brothers?" the voice had a raspy and smoky quality about it.

"Yup."

"I saw you and the others tonight. Great job."

"Thank you." the elevator chirped and the doors opened up. Buster was about to walk out when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Not so fast, son," the teenager gulped and froze. "you're coming with your old dad right now, got it?"

"No! ELWOOD! MACK!" Buster shrieked loudly enough to wake up the entire floor. The man was about to grab the teen when he ducked from under the grasp and raced down the hallway. Elwood burst out from his room as did the entire band. Melody cinched the sash on her robe as they all took in the guy in the pinstripe suit with the mutilated looking face launch himself after Buster.

Buster's years in the orphanage dodging bullies had given him a keen sense of when someone was pursuing him and it stood him in good faith now. He ducked and weaved as Willie and Matt blocked off the elevators, Murph and Tom blocked off the staircase. Lou called the police as Buster kept the guy at bay for a few more minutes.

"No more of this!" the guy huffed. "I'm here to deal with you now and end it quickly!" in an explosion of agility, the man grabbed Buster by the neck and raised him up off the floor. Elwood tried to charge the guy, but he fended him off with almost ridiculous ease. The singer was shoved aside, he crashed into a wall, hitting his head and blacking out. Mack wanted to aide his friend, but he could wait. The bartender geared himself up for a minute, amid Buster's hacking and raspy breathing, then tackled the guy.

Mack's tackle was aimed very well. The guy flew into the wall and lost consciousness, Buster fell down and flopped onto his side like a discarded toy. "Buster!" Mack moved to pick him up, but Melody halted him, her first aid training coming into play.

"Go see to Elwood!" she knelt over Buster, checking his breathing. "He's not breathing, Alan."

"Shit!" the trumpet player stood by as she began to resuscitate Buster, hoping the ambulance was on its way. "Mack, how's Elwood?"

"Not good. I can't wake him up!" the other bandmembers came into the hallway. They heard sirens and Melody paused for a brief moment, panting from her efforts and getting a bit dizzy from the exertion. Alan eyed her curiously as the elevator opened up, revealing 2 cops and 2 paramedics.

"Come on, Buster!" Melody urged. Like he had heard her, Buster recoiled and started hacking deeply. "Thank god!" she propped him up so he could breathe more easily. One of the paramedics was examining Elwood while the cops handcuffed the criminal and led him away. Mack volunteered to give a statement on behalf of the band so they could all return to their rooms to sleep.

An oxygen mask was put onto Buster's mouth and nose amid feeble complaints. He was loaded up onto a gurney and Mack followed them into the elevator, promising to text Melody when there was any news. Elwood was taken into the second elevator without an issue. Alan and Melody were both cringing when they saw Elwood had an identical mask on and he was already connected to a saline drip.

"Oh, God," Melody and Alan went back into their room. "this ain't gonna stay in Vegas, trust me on that one." Alan chuckled weakly as he sat down on the bed with her.

"Mel, I heard you and Buster talking last week. Remember when I was sick?"

"Yes."

"I came awake when I heard you mention that you can't bear... that you were infertile."

Melody sighed and shifted her weight, lying down in front of Alan on the bed. He faced her, sitting with his legs crossed in front of the pillows. In the half light from the neon signs outside, the trumpet player saw Melody's expression of fatigue cross her face for a moment. She had extreme patience sometimes, one of the many traits that he admired, but wondered at the story behind her particular ailment.

"What would you like to know?"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I would have understood."

"Well, it isn't a chapter of my life that I like to revisit."

"I do understand that, Mel. What happened to you?"

"When I was younger, I got very sick and the only drug that helped was a very potent one called methadone. I got well with it and the side effect was the drug completely destroyed my downstairs," she paused. "I felt like nobody would want me as I was incomplete, so to speak."

"You know you're wrong on that one."

"I know," Melody grinned. "how could I know back then I'd wind up with a blues band?"

"Does it affect your monthly as well?"

"Yes. I can't do that and I never ever complain about it!" Alan joined hands with her and pulled her over to him.

"Do you think you're incomplete now?"

"Not at all," Melody kissed him. "it's been a great life so far."

"Wanna make it better?"

"How?"

"Want to marry me?"

"Well, yeah!" she answered in a teasing tone. "So where do we get hitched?"

"You don't want an engagement first?"

"Whatever you want, I'll do." Melody winked as she stripped off her robe.

"Oh, well, how about we go and get a ring tomorrow?" he asked between smooching her neck.

"I'd love that." she moaned a little as she knew that he liked it. "Well, I didn't think we'd be doing this so late at night!" Alan snorted as he pulled her nightdress off.

Buster's eyes opened and he took in the blurry image that was Mack. He blinked a few times and became aware of his surroundings as Mack filled out paperwork and handed it to the discharge nurse. The teenager had never been in a hospital before and wondered what had gone on exactly to make Mack look so solemn.

"Hey, Mack."

"Hey, son," Mack smiled grimly. "what do you remember?"

"Some guy said I was his son and he tried to kidnap me." the nurse came in and removed the mask from Buster's face. Mack bit his lip as he glanced over in the corner. Buster was a bit too groggy to follow his adopted father's glance and he closed his eyes for a long moment.

"That's right, kid. We're looking into who that guy was and why he thought he was your dad." Buster grasped Mack's hand.

"I don't care who he was or is. You're my dad."

"Thanks." Mack hugged him. "A cop will turn up sometime later today at the hotel to fill us in on who that dirtbag was. Maybe he was just high and thought you were his son, I don't know."

Buster smiled. Mack always was a bit of a worrywart. "You are discharged, Buster, so come on, we'll take you back to the hotel."

"Where's Elwood?"

"Right here!" Elwood came in, not looking any worse for wear because of his injury. Buster noticed his color was a bit off but that would sort itself out in a few days. "C'mon, Buster, time to get back."

"All right. Where are my clothes?" he was handed a small bundle and with their backs turned, Buster changed up and was ready to get back to the hotel.

"Did anything happen to you, Elwood?"

"I got conked one on the head," he admitted. There was no point in trying to be macho about an injury. "I don't remember much."

"I'm sorry."

"None of that, Buster," Elwood said sternly. "you couldn't have known what was going to happen with me or anyone else. Let's just catch what sleep we can before the second gig tonight."

"Deal."

As soon as Buster had hit the sack and shut his eyes, memories drifted up, memories of his childhood. His mother he'd never known anything about her and he could never even find out her name. It had been known she'd died a few days after he'd been born, of an amniotic aneurysm. He didn't know anything about that or why it killed her, nor did he want to know. It seemed she had been antisocial as well, never having any friends to speak of, nobody knew of her at all.

His father was a different story. He had a surname, but it wasn't known at all what it was. People referred to him as Sidney as that was his first name, but no surname to speak of. Buster had a few memories of his father, how he was constantly out all night, a drinker and user of ladies. The teen's first memory was a hooker being nice to him, as his father was flat out drunk and motionless on the floor. The few other memories he had was of his father beating him when he was 5 for accidentally ruining his father's stock of heroin. As Mother Mary told him later on, Sidney had disappeared and if it hadn't been for a neighbor nearby, Buster would never have been found.

Buster had healed physically well from his ordeal under Mary's guidance and patience, but he couldn't be around the other children for a long time. Any time he'd do something wrong he would automatically hit himself like his father did. Mary noticed it at once and took the youngster to long counseling sessions. It took a few years of hard and patient effort, but Buster was able to be with other children again and not strike himself if he did something wrong. He'd finally been allowed to play like a little boy should, he had friends, he began to mature the way a child did. As he grew older, Mary had patiently mentored the boy, set him straight when he did something wrong, and was proud of his progress.

Then there was Elwood. Mary told Buster that she'd raised Elwood and his brother Jake herself, and that she hoped Elwood would be able to mentor Buster. His first impression of Elwood wasn't very favorable; a man wearing a suit, hat, and shades inside, very tight lipped. Buster had to refrain from laughing as Elwood called him a wiseass and got whipped for it with Mary's retractable pointer. The youngster back then had no choice but to follow Elwood around as the singer initially dismissed him, but he persevered. Buster had managed to swipe a cop's wallet that got Elwood the money to buy the Ford, which helped Elwood see him in a different light.

Ever since Mack finalized the adoption years ago, Elwood and Buster had grown closer and Buster was happy that he had two dads. They'd taken good care of him when he was sick, and again when he needed his tonsils out. The teen had also needed his wisdom teeth taken out and Elwood had taken him to get it done. It had been a long and painful road to recovery, as he'd been all swelled up and very sore, but Elwood and Mack had taken turns nursing him, and he'd recovered.

Elwood's philosophy on music helped Buster through his dark moods as well. When he was ill, he'd listen to all sorts of music and he found the up tempo songs made him feel better, medium tempo would lessen the feel good effect, and slow songs he didn't like to listen to at all. It often made a significant difference in how he was feeling overall.

Yawning, he put his hands up behind his head and shut his eyes. Even though he had a rocky start in life, he wouldn't trade anything for where he was now.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Fire

"Thank you, thank you!" Elwood and the band bowed for a moment before they launched into a tune called Cheaper to Keep Her. Buster picked up his harmonica and began playing it as Mack went backstage to take a breather for a moment. His song was coming up, Lookin' For A Fox and he wanted to be ready for it. The horn section began playing the intro to the song, vamping for a moment as the other bandmembers kicked in. Melody and Buster stood near the horn section, ready on the vocals.

"When your little girl makes you mad  
You get an attitude and pack your bag  
Five little children that you're leaving behind  
You're gonna pay some alimony or do some time

"It's cheaper to keep her  
It's cheaper to keep her  
See when you get to staring that judge in the face  
You're gonna wanna cuss the whole human race  
It's cheaper to keep her  
Too much to leave that little girl  
It's cheaper, it's cheaper, cheaper, it's cheaper  
It's cheaper, it's cheaper  
It's cheaper cheaper cheaper cheaper, yeah

"You didn't pay for two dollars to bring the girl home  
Now you're about to pay two thousand to leave alone  
See another woman out there, you wanna make a change  
She ain't gonna watch you 'cause you won't have a damn thing

"It's cheaper to keep her  
Cheaper to keep her  
The time you get to looking at the judge in the face  
You're gonna wanna cuss the whole human race  
It's cheaper to keep her  
Cost too much to leave  
It's cheaper, cheaper, it's cheaper, it's cheaper  
It's cheaper, cheaper  
Cheaper cheaper cheaper cheaper, yeah

"If you decide to roam  
And leave your happy home  
You gotta pay the house note  
The child support, your insurance  
Alimony, morgage 1, morgage 2

"It's cheaper to keep her!"

Mack got up onstage then as the band played the beginning notes of Lookin' For A Fox. Melody went backstage with Buster, preparing herself for Karmastition right after Mack was done.

"Mack is awesome out there!" Buster peered through the curtains as Melody reapplied her lipstick.

"Yes he is, Bus," she checked her reflection in the mirror. "he's got such a great voice and how he uses it is amazing."

"Tonight the sky's the limit!" Mack's voice carried through to them.

"I got some money and I'm gonna spend it!

It's Saturday night and I'm gonna play..."

The song got the crowd all riled up and Melody was prepared to take them all the way there with Karmastition. The song was Alicia Keys's Karma lyrics with Stevie Wonder's music from Superstition worked in.

"Weren't you the one who said that you don't want me anymore  
And how you need your space and give the keys back to your door  
And how I cried and tried and tried to make you stay with me  
And still you said your love was gone and that I had to leave

"Now you're talking bout a family  
Now you're saying I complete your dreams  
Oh  
Now you're sayin' I'm your everything  
You're confusing me  
What you saying to me, don't play with me, don't play with me  
Cause...

"What goes around comes around  
What goes up must come down  
Now who's cryin', desirin' to come back to me  
What goes around comes around  
What goes up must come down  
Now who's cryin, desirin', to come back

"I remember when I was sittin' home alone  
Waitin' for you til 3 o'clock in the morn

Lord knows it wasn't easy believe me  
Never thought you'd be the one that would deceive me

"And when you came home you'd always have some sorry excuse  
Half explaining to me like I'm just some kind of a fool  
I sacrificed the things I wanted to do things for you  
But when it's time to do for me  
You never come thru  
Now you wanna be a part of me  
Now you have so much to say to me  
Now you wanna make time for me  
Whatcha doin' to me, you're confusin' me  
Don't play with me don't play with me cause

"What goes around comes around  
What goes up must come down  
Now who's cryin', desirin' to come back to me  
What goes around comes around  
What goes up must come down  
Now who's cryin, desirin', to come back

"I remember when I was sittin' home alone  
Waitin' for you till 3 o'clock in the morn  
Night after night knowing something goin' on  
Wasn't long before I be gone  
Lord knows it wasn't easy believe me  
Never thought you'd be the one that would deceive me  
and never do what you are supposed to do, no need pose me, boo because I'm over you

"What goes around comes around  
What goes up must come down  
Now who's cryin', desirin' to come back to me  
What goes around comes around  
What goes up must come down  
Gotta stop trying to come back to me!"

Just as Melody was entering the final chorus, a huge bang exploded from the stage and everyone ducked down amid screams. The musicians heard a taut cable snap and the big tragicomedy faces hanging suspended above the stage suddenly wobbled and came loose. Elwood and Mack did not think, they dived over to Melody and Buster, tackling them and bringing them out of range as the heavy ornament came flying down on one side, performing a swooping arc that would have taken them both out if they'd remained standing.

"The hell?!" Elwood and the others watched as the other cable snapped, bringing the ornament thudding down to the floor with a mind numbing bang. The cable whipped through the air, Mack shouted for everyone to run out of the theater, which they did. Buster stood up and swore as they peeked over the edge of the stage and saw the ornament was splintered into several pieces now. Everyone looked at each other and back down at the remains of the masks.

"Think this was an accident?" Willie started.

Just then, a loud fizzing and popping noise drew their attention to the stagelights hanging above them. One of the lights had shorted out and was spitting sparks everywhere. As they watched, the sparks ignited and the stage became an inferno. Everyone grabbed their instruments and ran for it as Buster sprinted for the exit. Melody tripped over wires and crashed into the door that led off the stage, stunning her for a moment. Seeing stars around her head, she fell back, raising her hands to her head. Buster realized she was still behind the door, wheeling around and grabbing her hand. With a power brought on by pure adrenaline, he hoisted her up and steered her through the maze of halls.

"Come on!" Buster grabbed her hand when he saw her starting to falter and led her through the smoky stage to the backstage area where the smoke was even thicker. The teenager had to let go of Melody's hand and wrestle a door open, managing to squeeze through it to the outside, narrowly avoiding a falling beam that blocked the door completely. He looked all over for Melody, hoping to get her to climb over the beam and run the risk of getting burned, but he could not see her anymore.

"Mel!" he screamed, but had to turn around and run to the other bandmembers, who were signaling him wildly.

"Buster, where's Mel?" Elwood hugged him.

"I don't know! I thought she was behind me!" the teen cried out as the sirens came closer.

"She's still in there?!" Alan gazed at the burning building and had to restrain himself from not going in there after her. "Melody!" his throat hurt from the smoke or he would have stood there calling for her until the fire finally stopped. The bandmembers, flushed from the heat, were glad to hear the sirens coming up to them as the fire engine pulled up.

"There's someone still in there!" Mack told the fire chief. "You gotta save her!"

The chief and his men put on their equipment and armed with axes and a paramedic, went into the inferno. Elwood and the others heard the men chopping down the doorframe and kicking in the splintered wood as the smoke billowed out all around them. More sirens wailed in the night eerily, coming closer as Buster clung to Mack and Elwood, overwhelmed. Alan watched the flames licking up into the night sky, praying that Melody would be all right as Steve cuffed his shoulder.

"Buster, was she all right?" Elwood tried to sound neutral for the band's sake, but everyone knew that he loved Melody like a sister.

"Elwood..." Buster shot a glance at Alan, who was nearby. "she got hurt. I don't know how but she didn't act like herself."

"Oh boy." they glanced at the trumpet player who didn't appear to have heard them. Alan had in fact heard them but dimly, as he was inwardly praying for his fiancee's safe return to him.

* * *

Melody had managed to get turned around in the confusion and the smoldering heat. She was sweating profusely and swearing more than anyone had ever heard her. Giving up, she sat down near a cool spot on the floor as her head throbbed dully. "Looks like I'm joining you, Jake." she said with a rueful laugh. Of all the ways to die, she had dreaded fire most of all. Melody hoped Alan would be able to start over without her and find someone worthy of him, as undoubtedly she would leave a hole in his heart. Warm blood trickled down from a shallow cut on her forehead and she dabbed it away.

"Like hell you are," Jake appeared in front of her. Melody squinted, wondering if she had either fainted or had begun hallucinating. "after all you've been through, you're going to let fire kill you?!"

"Ugh," she mopped her brow. "I'm so hot, Jake."

"Fight it!" he argued, taking her by the shoulders. "They're coming for you and you need to make some kind of sound to let them know where you are!"

"I..."

"Scream!" Jake didn't want to do it, but he grabbed a burning ember and stabbed her with it, giving her a second degree burn on her upper left arm. Melody recoiled and screamed like he wanted her to.

"Good girl! They're coming!" her eyelids closed as Jake swore.

"Now I'm gonna take away at least some of your pain!" he closed his hand around the cut on her forehead, making a bright blue light glow from it for a moment. When he removed his hand the cut was gone. Melody's eyes opened up and her mind seemed to clear so she was able to discern an exit not far away. Jake saw her staring and nodded encouragingly. "Go for it, girl!"

"You're damn right I can do it!" Melody got up and ran for the door, avoiding a falling ember of fire. The engineer rammed hard with her left shoulder, ignoring a small flare of pain from the burn. She rammed and rammed, but it didn't get her anywhere. Light headed now, she tried kicking the door down, which produced a loud cracking noise. Melody, high on adrenaline, launched another attack on the door and it finally gave way. She jumped through to the other side and saw Jake in front of her as she took a ragged breath.

"Run for it before the whole thing collapses!" he urged and Melody lost no time in obeying.

* * *

"Hey, what's that?" Murph shielded his eyes against the glare of the fire. "Alan, look!" the trumpet player turned around and recognized the silhouette running towards them.

"Melody!" he embraced her very tightly and kissed her on the cheek. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Like I could help it?!" she shot back. Alan noticed the burn on her arm and took her to the ambulance waiting nearby. "All right, I'll be good." she sighed and sat down on the bumper while a paramedic tended to her wound. "My left arm is bothering me anyway." the trumpet player noticed a wheeze to her breathing and he worried about a possible attack of her asthma coming on, but Melody glanced up at him and forced her breathing down to a regular rhythm again, heading off the potential attack before it got started.

"Not going to rain is it?" Elwood joked as the rest of the band came up to her. All of them were familiar with her left arm, which she had broken several years ago, and it tended to ache and get sore when rain was on the way. It didn't impede her singing, but it did interfere with her mending broken equipment. Alan was familiar with the drill and usually brought her ice packs to soothe the discomfort away.

"In Nevada?" Melody teased back as the paramedic flushed her burn with saline and began to put a salve over it. "That smells good, what is it?"

"It's menthol and eucalyptus with vitamin E to help your skin grow back." he explained as he saturated a few gauze strips and layered them over the burn site.

"A wet to dry dressing, eh?"

"You're very smart."

"Thanks. My aunt was a nurse." the paramedic taped down a dressing and gave her some bandages and a can of spray saline in order to keep her wound clean.

"Did you inhale any smoke?" Melody asked Alan, who admitted that he did. "Would you auscultate him?" she inquired to the paramedic.

"Certainly."

Alan looked like he'd been told he would have to submit to an internal probe. "What are they going to do to me?"

"It's nothing. Hike your shirt up in the back." the paramedic checked Alan's lungs and told him that they sounded fine. "Time to get going back to the hotel. What's going on with the gig, Elwood? We've only been here what, 3 days?"

"Around that somewhere," Elwood checked his cell phone. "no text yet, but I bet Sline will call soon. We'll probably get paid for the 3 days and then we have to get booked in another venue."

"Progress report tomorrow?" Steve and Duck started walking towards the hotel.

"Right on. Breakfast meeting." Mack clarified as the rest of them started walking back as well. Alan took Melody's hand as Buster took the other one, giving her a little smile and receiving one in return.

"I'm glad you're OK, Mel." Matt turned to give Melody a smile. "Man, you scared the shit out of us!"

"Amen to that." Duck agreed. "Don't go doin' that again, ya hear?"

Melody gave a little laugh and squeezed Alan's hand, her code that she had to tell him something in private. He understood and returned the squeeze back.

The walk back was short and after the ambush of the previous night, nobody was willing to drop their guard in case the insane man came back and tried to abduct Buster again. The teen's real father was dead, but he didn't know it yet, so Elwood was the one who wanted to tell him in person, but he kept putting off the moment. Knowing he couldn't delay it anymore, he elbowed Mack in the hallway and told him what he was about to do.

"Do you want me there, El?"

"You can be if you want, Mack. The kid might want us both there, I have no idea how he's gonna take it."

"Right." they said goodnight to the band and after Buster had changed and was sitting on his bed, Elwood sat down next to him.

"Buster, I put this off for long enough," he began. "it's about your real dad."

"What about him?" the teen's eyes narrowed, obviously thinking the attacker from last night really was his father.

"That guy wasn't him," Elwood told him quickly. "your real dad was named August Charles and he died in a car crash two years ago."

"August?" Buster wrinkled his nose. "Horrid name!" Elwood had to laugh.

"Your mom died shortly after you were born. The nun and I have been doing some research and Mack here helped a lot too. Your mom was named Tamara Bradley, she was a drug addict, your dad was too, so it was a match in druggie heaven. Apparently your dad never knew that you were adopted and a part of this group, so if someone knows, we can just deny it."

"What about the drunk guy last night?"

"His name is Elton Kelley and he won't bother you again. The assault on you and me were proof that he broke probation and he's back in the slammer for at least 10 more years."

Buster beamed and hugged Elwood. "I'm glad. I don't want anything to happen to any one of us again!"

Just then, Elwood's cell phone rang. "It's Sline."

"Yo."

"Hey Elwood, shame about the gig," Sline sounded cheerful. "I got a proposition for you guys that you might like."

"What is it?"

"Since the venue is canceled, you'll be hoppin' the state line and going down to Long Beach, California. Ever heard of the Queen Mary?"

"The ocean liner now turned hotel?"

"Yup. The people who own her are throwing a really big shindig to promote the upcoming tourist season and you guys are who they want. I said you'd consider it."

"How long is the gig?"

"Four days. You stay on the ship if you want to free of charge. I know Melody is big into hauntings and this would be up her alley."

"She is. I'll tell the band tomorrow morning. Will text you to let you know."

"All right. Goodnight, Elwood."

"Bye." he hung up.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

In the Mercedes the next day after the Vegas blues showcase had burned down, Elwood had a meeting with the band and informed them of Sline's new appointment for them. A few of the bandmembers were uneasy at the prospect of staying on the most haunted ship of all time, noteably Murph and Steve, but the others liked the idea.

"It won't take long to get out there to Long Beach." Elwood and Matt checked the map and planned out their route while the others got into the cars.

After all the excitement of the previous night, Melody and the rest of the band had trouble sleeping. She leaned against her boyfriend's shoulder and closed her eyes while he did likewise.

_Alan sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. To his right, his girlfriend Melody turned fitfully away from him in her sleep. The trumpet player had been startled and concerned when she had come home early from work the day before, admitting that she hadn't felt well all day. She didn't think it was anything to be too concerned about, but Alan had checked her over and found a few red marks on her throat. He argued with her to see a doctor, but she countered that it was too late in the day and that she wasn't going to sit around in an emergency room and wait while she could sleep at home and get well that way._

_It hadn't been a very convincing argument but it worked. Alan was too tired to really argue with her, Melody was too happy to get to bed and sleep, confident that her ailment would disappear soon._

_Only it hadn't. Alan had gotten up at the usual time to discover Melody wasn't awake yet, and the spots on her neck were more prominent. She had begun to run a fever, so Alan called their doctor._

_Dr. Daniels had spoken to Alan on the phone, calling back about 10 minutes after Alan had left a message with the medical assistant. The doctor proclaimed it had sounded like scarlet fever, as there had been a lot of it going around lately. The trumpet player remembered hearing about scarlet fever before, thinking that it was fatal. Daniels had told him that it was true enough back in the old days when there were no medicines to treat it, but they knew what the disease was and how to treat it now. _

_The musician was told to try to get Melody to drink fluids whenever she was awake, which was difficult. Alan had tried to, but she kept resisting his efforts. Melody would turn away at his minstrations each time he tried, even trying to fight him when he cleaned the dampness from her brow. _

_It was going to be a long day for him. Daniels had offered to assign a visiting nurse to check in on them, but he'd declined. Alan stood up and lowered the blinds in the room, he picked out an outfit to wear for the day, then picked up the phone again. _

_'Elwood."_

_"El, it's Alan."_

_"Hey Mr. Fabulous, what's up?"_

_"I have a bit of a dilemma and I wonder if you guys could help me?"_

_"Shoot."_

_"I have a few funerals to supervise today and I need to put in an appearance at the studio to play for a band. The thing I want you to do is look after Melody."_

_"Why? is she sick?"_

_"Yeah," Alan put his hand to his brow and let it slide down the side of his face as he sighed, worry lines creasing his face. "the doc says she's got scarlet fever."_

_"Damn. Mack's got a shift today, but Buster and I will come to watch her. When do you need us?"_

_"Say about an hour," he glanced at the clock on the wall. "work for you?" _

_"Sure thing." Elwood rang off as Alan got into his suit and picked up a small can with a yellow top. Melody had recently acquired a betta fish and set it up nicely in a small betta bowl in a shady corner of the room. The fish had been hiding out in a little resin sculpture of a sunken ship, but boldly wiggled his little body as he came forward to look at Alan. As always, the trumpet player was amused that the fish always came out to greet him like a dog. Chuckling, he put a few fish flakes into the top of the tank, watching the fish eat them. _

_"You're too much like a dog." Alan had named him Rex in that honor. Melody had said it was a horrible name, but she had to agree the fish was remarkably like a dog. Even if she was cooking, the fish would float around in the bowl curiously, watching her. _

_Stirring his coffee, Alan looked towards the bedroom with concern evident in his face. Melody had only been sick a few times like this and though she always recovered, it never failed to scare him a bit. He attributed this to the loss of his parents, as his mother had a cold one day, it turned out to be something more than that, though he was not clear even now on what it was. One day his mother had been fine, the next she was gone. His father had been fading away gradually and he knew it had been coming, which had been a mild comfort. _

_Even so, Alan had a niggling worry at the back of his mind that Melody might not recover like she did before. It was only natural, he supposed. Diseases sometimes took odd turns and depending on the stricken's constitution, they would either recover or succumb. He didn't want to bury himself in what-ifs and drive himself crazy. _

_The betta fish swam up to the top of his bowl to take in a gulp of air. At first, Alan hadn't understood why they did that, then Melody told him that they had a special organ called a labyrinth that allowed them to take in air almost like a person did. She had bought him a book on bettas and he read it thoroughly, becoming a bit of an expert on them by the time he was done. _

_Melody made a frightened sound in the bedroom, prompting Alan to put down his mug to go in and look on her. _

_The room was dark, Melody was bundled up on her side of the bed. He sat down on the side and peered down at his girlfriend. Her brow was shiny with a film of sweat, her features were creased like she was in pain. Alan grasped her hand, which she pulled away from him in her delirium. She turned and opened up her eyes, giving him a glimpse of her fever-bright eyes. _  
_"Mel? It's me." no hint of recognition. Alan wryly tried not to take it personally. "Elwood and Buster are coming here to look after you for the day. I've got to work." _

_She seemed to understand that, but before he asked for a clarification, the doorbell rang. _

_"I'll be back soon." he promised as she closed her eyes. _

* * *

_"Hey, how's she doin'?" Elwood greeted as he stepped in with Buster in tow._

_"She's getting delirious," Alan gave off a sigh as he watched Buster come in and go straight for Melody's bedside. The adults followed him in, Elwood's jaw dropping open when he saw her. _

_"Not a pretty sight."_

_"No, not at all." Buster already seemed welded to Melody, brushing her hair back from her face, wiping her brow, talking to her. It was all Alan had already done and she was no more receptive to the teenager than to Alan. _

_The two adults watched the teen with Melody. "I wish I could skip work today." _

_"Nah, you go on, man. I don't go on at Willie's until 10." _

_Elwood had once coaxed the band into playing at the strip club and Alan still winced at the memory. He didn't like to be surrounded by half naked women while trying to concentrate on his music. Nobody else liked it either and thankfully, he hadn't gotten them to do it again. It was no place for Buster to be, none of the band's wives liked the idea of them playing at a strip club, so Alan guessed it had been a one shot kind of thing. _

_Melody didn't like the strip club either. She had managed to avoid the whole performance by wrangling some extra freelancing repair work from one of the music shops. Alan had to admire the way Melody refused to get into an argument with Elwood about the strip club and avoided it entirely. _

_"All right. You just have to try to get her to drink fluids, try to keep her cool until that fever of hers breaks."_

_"What has she got again?"_

_"Scarlet fever. She's going to be delirious for awhile, I think." he had done some research in Melody's medical books she had inherited from her aunt, and he knew the basics of the disease. Alan didn't understand some of the words used, but he got the gist of it. _

_"Leave a message on my office phone if she gets any worse or if that fever breaks." _

_"She'll be all right, Alan. Truly." they glanced over to see that Buster was tending to her and both had to smile. "Kid might grow up to be a nurse." _

_"And not a blues musician?" Alan chuckled. "Perish the thought, Elwood!" _

_Elwood gave him a grin and shooed him out the door._

* * *

_Around noontime, Elwood and Buster had settled in for lunch after ordering at a nearby pizza place. Unpacking the bag, Buster asked, "Elwood, what was Melody like when you first met her?"_

_Elwood smiled at the memory as he pulled a chair out and sat down in it. "You already heard about our first gigs together and the run in with that guy who murdered her aunt. Mel had to lay low for awhile to recover from the incident. A few months later we were out touring again and she sure showed us the wild side! She introduced us to what body shots were back then."_

_"Isn't that drinking off of a lady?" _

_"Right on, kid. I don't need to know how you know that, though," Elwood admitted as Buster smirked. "anyway, she let herself go wild with any amateur racing events, showed us drinking games, all that stuff I shouldn't mention."_

_"Come on, El."_

_"No. You'll find out for yourself someday through your own friends."_

_"I'm going to have to take your word for that." Buster admitted ruefully as he tore the paper bag down the side and brought out two small white boxes. "Which one's yours?"_

* * *

_During the day, Alan thought about Melody when he wasn't busy. There was plenty to think about in terms of work, as one of the groundskeepers at one of the cemeteries was sick so they needed someone from a neighboring graveyard to fill in for him, the mortuary assistant at one hospital had messed up the transfer of bodies so the executor of the estate had to come in and resign some forms. _

_It had been a nightmare, but he had his most trusted assistant in charge and fortunately, the assistant was very personable and adept at handling the mix-ups. The assistant kept things well in hand and thanks to Alan's reputation as a tough funeral director who didn't take crap from anyone, there was no need to bring him in. Several mortuary assistants were afraid of him and his caustic attitude, the groundskeepers liked and respected him very much as he was very forthcoming and had a good sense of humor. _

_Without even consciously thinking about it, Alan had wanted to go and get Melody from the legal office where she worked and take her out to lunch. They would do that about twice a month and go to any little place that they liked. It was such a habit to him now and when he realized again that she was too sick, his worrying started up again. _

_At Greengrove cemetery, he walked among the rows of monuments and headstones, stopping at the foot of one that had an angel standing on it. The monument read BATEMAN 1875, the angel had her arms extended to heaven with a little smile on her chiseled face. Alan eyed the stone face with curling hair draped around her shoulders with a book in her left hand. It almost reminded him of the statue of liberty, but she wasn't carrying a torch or hugging a tablet to her bosom in one hand. _

_The monument and the angel were not granite but white bronze, something that was extremely difficult to clean. A few volunteers once had tried, but the difference wasn't significant. From what he knew of Illinois's history, the Bateman family had been one of the first settlers, a very navy oriented family, but with strong values. Back in those days, strong values had been more respected than they were now, Alan thought wistfully. He had been raised by parents who had instilled in him a strong sense of justice, charity, humor, etc. _

_"Hi, Mr. Rubin," the groundskeeper cheerfully greeted him. He was a six foot tall man, husky, bearded, with good nature in his face and eyes. "how's it going today?"_

_"Not bad." they walked back to the groundskeeper's John Deere 110, the bulldozer on one end already filled with dirt._

_"Sure? You look worried." _

_The groundskeeper-John, always seemed to have an uncanny knack for knowing how people were feeling. He was exceptionally good at reading faces and Alan often thought that he had a superhuman ability about facial expressions. _

_"My girlfriend is sick," they walked over to the bulldozer side of the tractor and waited for the funeral to finish. _

_"Sorry to hear that. Seems like strep throat is going around this flu season." John drank from his water bottle and replaced it in the cupholder. _

_"She's got scarlet fever."_

_"She'll be OK. Have I met her?"_

_"I think so, once or twice."_

_"She the one that drives the Audi?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"Yup, I've met her," John smiled. "I don't think anything could drag her down, Mr. Rubin. She'll be well again." _

_"I'm glad you think so."_

_"You DO think so too, right?"_

_Alan looked lost for a minute and he shrugged. "She's so ill, John. I've never seen anything like this on her before. She's older now, so maybe..." he trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence. _

_"Hey! That's not the way a boyfriend is supposed to think!" John snapped sharply. "Don't dwell on the negative, just stay positive!" _

_"I don't mean to be," he reassured John. "I just see her there so sick and I can't help but-"_

_"Just don't." John told him quietly. "It'll be hard, but don't. Try to distract yourself or you'll go nuts." _

_"All right. I've got my assistant Jerry running the show for the next day so I can be there for Mel."_

_"Good then. Jerry's a nice guy." _

_"Nicer than me." Alan smirked as John started laughing. _

_"There was a little mix-up of gravesites at Pine Grove and all Jerry had to do was threaten to call you and the guy backed off," John lowered his voice a little bit. "the guy was really belligerent about the whole thing and when Jerry threatened to call you, he just knuckled under. You really do have a reputation as a shall we say hardass." _

_"Years of cultivating the hardass attitude finally paid off." Alan joked. "You've got no idea how many of our vendors just want to run off and give me a song and dance about it. Often times our secretary will catch them trying to swindle all sorts of crap out of us and she lets me deal with them. I like to put people in their places."_

_"Damn right!" they turned back as the funeral party was departing. _

* * *

_Elwood shifted in his chair and adjusted his tie as Buster mopped Melody's brow for the tenth time since they had been there. It was almost 5 PM and both were about ready to leave. The singer had to admire how much Buster had done for Melody that day, tending to her like a nurse would. _

_"You've got a real knack for caring about people, Bus," he had remarked. "gonna be a nurse?"_

_"No, I'm gonna be a blues musician!" Buster was coming along nicely at playing the bass guitar, much to Duck's delight. _

_"I'm proud of ya."_

_"Thanks, Elwood." Buster sat on the edge of the bed and talked to Melody reassuringly and that did seem to help. _

_"Come on Mel, you'll be OK." _

_"Want Alan..." those were the first words she had spoken all day. _

_"Mel, he should be home any minute now." Elwood spoke up. She didn't notice him and glanced at Buster. _

_"We'll go get him, OK?" _

_"OK..." she drifted into a disturbed sleep as Buster looked at Elwood._

_"Think we should take her to the hospital?"_

_"What for, Elwood? You know the hospitals are packed with people this time of year suffering from the same thing. The nurses can only give her the care that she's already getting here." _

_"They have medicines..."_

_"This is a virus and it has to run its course, Elwood. Medicines won't help that." _

_"You been payin' attention in health classes?"_

_"Doesn't everyone?" Buster crossed his arms and Elwood decided he wouldn't tell Buster that his health classes consisted of sitting at the back with Jake, giggling over Playboy magazines before the Penguin caught them._

_"A lot of kids are not mature enough to go to those classes." was all he would say. Buster narrowed his eyebrows in suspicion, then the sound of the door opening and closing brought them out into the foyer. Alan had come home and was unwinding a scarf from his suit jacket. He hung it up on a hat stand and put his overcoat away in the hall closet. _

_"How's she doing?"_

_"The same. She wants you."_

_"What?"_

_"A few minutes ago in her sleep, she called your name." Elwood elaborated on Buster's cryptic reply. _

_"Oh." Alan hung up his keys on the small key cabinet near the door. "Is she to any degree awake?"_

_"No. She's still delirious." _

_"Damn!" Alan hissed. "I want that part to be over! I mean, she doesn't recognize me at all!"_

_Buster started forward but Elwood put a hand on his shoulder. "You want us tomorrow, Alan?"_

_"No, I'll be here." _

_"All right. Keep us posted."_

_"Will do. Thanks you two." he saw them out and shut the door as the betta fish in his bowl leaped up playfully with a little splash. "You like teasing me, don't you?" Alan fed him his supper and went over to the kitchen to prepare his own. _

* * *

_Melody gasped in her sleep and sat bolt upright, her eyes wide open but unseeing. She got up and went into the bathroom, wiping her face with a damp cloth and combing her hair back so she didn't look like she had pillow hair anymore. The engineer changed her pajamas and got back into bed, wincing as pain flared at her throat. _

_"Mel?" Alan came into the room a few minutes later. "Thought I heard you getting up." _

_"Alan?" her voice sounded very fragile and his name was almost whispered. He took up his chair near her again and peered into her face, not liking how weak and frail she looked and sounded. _

_"It's me, babe."_

_"I'm too hot..." she complained, her eyelids still shut. "I'm burning." _

_"I know hon, I know," he soothed. When he was a child and sick, he had been given cool baths by his mother, which she swore up and down helped to bring him back to health. Alan decided he would do it now, standing up and turning on the taps in the tub. _

_When it was ready, he went back into the bedroom and stripped Melody of her pajamas, wrapping her up in a fleece blanket as she immediately began shivering. The trumpet player picked her up easily and brought her into the bathroom, pulling the blanket off of her and feeling like a criminal as he did so. Melody shivered more violently as he deposited her in the tub. _

_"Too cold now..." _

_"It's the same temp as the room," Alan explained as he began to wet down her face. The sick woman wanted to fight Alan off, then jump out and dive into her nice warm bed, but she lacked the energy and the strength to do it. She gave off a sigh and looked up at Alan as he continued to wet her down. "Come on now, let's play nice." he admonished as he wrung out the washcloth and began on her arms. _

_"Alan?"_

_"Yes?"_

_"Where is he?" Melody's eyes closed again and Alan paused, letting her left hand down. She was still delirious, wondering where he was when he was in fact right in front of her, but he couldn't make her see that until she was lucid. Even though she was delirious, he couldn't help but feel a bit put out that she didn't recognize him. _

_"He's right here." he answered, in hopes that she might recognize his voice. The trumpet player couldn't help but smirk a little bit at the situation, as at any other time he might have found it funny. _

_"I love him... oh, why isn't he here?" she moaned feverishly as Alan finished up and flipped the switch on the tub to let the water drain down. _

_"Mel, he'll always be there for you." it felt odd to refer to himself in the third person, but Melody seemed to take comfort in his words. He picked her up, dried her off, put her back in pajamas and put her into bed. _

_"Death would be better than this suffering," she said decisively, making Alan jump. "if I don't make it..."_

_"Don't talk like that!" he exclaimed loudly. "And quit being so impatient! I know you're sick, but you will recover!"_

_She continued on like she hadn't heard him at all. "tell my Alan that I love him." _

_Her Alan? She'd never used that term before. Odd the way that disease changed people-at least temporarily, he thought. Melody originally didn't like much in the ways of public displays of affection, and she had a low tolerance of what she called cutesy nicknames that drove her absolutely crazy. Alan made up all sorts of nicknames for her and she had threatened to retaliate if they kept coming. He wasn't stupid, he knew she'd do something nasty to him, so he had to stop with the nicknames. She only called him Mr. Fabulous whenever she was irked at him for some reason, and that was rare. _

_"I will." was all he could say, stunned. _

_The engineer went to sleep then, leaving Alan to turn in his mind what she had just said for a few minutes. After that, he checked her temperature, which was down a degree, making a tired smile illuminate his face. _

_During the night, he slept in the chair, waking occasionally to check Melody over. Her fever was on the wane, as it dropped half a degree around midnight. Alan treasured the thought that she might break her delirium and consciously recognize him before the day was out._  
_When morning dawned, Alan was awakened by the sunlight peeking through the blinds. He would have opened them up, but Melody would not be appreciative of that, he was sure. The trumpet player fed the betta fish, had breakfast, and returned to his vigil at his girlfriend's bedside. _

_The phone rang a few minutes later, making him jump almost out of his skin. Cursing, he put his mug down and reached for the cordless phone. _

_"Hello?" _

_"Alan? Dr. Daniels." _

_"Hi."_

_"How's she doing?" _

_"About the same. I put her in a bath last night which seems to have helped."_

_"Good. I've got several patients who are on the mend just because they had cool water baths." _

_Alan could tell that the doctor was trying to sound optimistic for his sake. "I have been discharging some, actually."_

_"Is there anything else?"_

_"Yes there is. I want to make sure you take care of yourself, Alan. Make sure you get enough sleep while you're caring for her."_

_"Becoming a dictator, aren't you?" Alan teased as Daniels laughed. _

_"Just doing my job. You both are my patients so I look after both of you." _

_"Are there any other suggestions for bringing her fever down?"_

_"Not that I can think of," Daniels sighed. "I've had a few elderly patients expire on me today and a serious case last night so I need some rest myself." _

_"I'm sorry." Alan replied, at a loss for anything to say. _

_"It happens in this job." he could picture the doctor shrugging. "I knew what I was in for when I signed on for it."_

_"True." he admired the doctor's fortitude. "I've got to go, so I'll talk to you later." _

_"I'll call tomorrow and check up on her." they said goodbye and hung up. Alan yawned and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease the crick he'd given himself while sleeping in the chair. The bed did look awfully appealing to him, so he clambered over to his side, giving a sigh of contentment as he relaxed back into the down pillows. _

_Melody turned over to him and proceeded to cuddle up with her boyfriend, giving an identical sigh of contentment. Alan put his arm around her, the fever still detectable through her pajamas. She wasn't sweaty anymore and she didn't seem restless now either, so Alan hoped that the fever was about to break. He pushed away a strand of her hair from her closed eyes and admired her for a long moment. _

_The trumpet player was reminded of what had attracted him to her in the first place, her physical beauty. She had dark brown expressive eyes, a full face, a nose that looked picture perfect on her, and Alan liked her lips the most. They were dark pink, sensuous-looking, just right for him to kiss almost whenever he wanted. His fingers trailed over the natural line of her lips, mesmerized by how they appealed to him. Melody didn't like to put too much of anything on her lips, preferring them all natural. Alan had to agree, as he didn't think that they were attractive to him when they had gloss or lipstick on. _

_Drifting off into sleep, he again was reminded about how blessed he was in his life to have her with him._

* * *

_Melody turned in her sleep and opened up her eyes, glancing at the bedside clock radio. It was 3:30 in the morning and she didn't feel too bad. She was sweaty and tired, ravenously hungry, but it could wait until the morning. What she needed was sleep and plenty of it. _

_Turning to the other side, she was surprised to find Alan lying next to her, sound asleep. A small smile lit her face as she watched him sleep on, oblivious to her. The engineer reached out with a slightly sweaty hand, wiped the sweat off, and put her hand on his right cheek, trailing it down the side of his face affectionately. He did not stir at all, but she did not care at that point in time. Melody wanted to kiss him, but remembered she would likely transmit the disease and he'd curse her out later if he caught it. _

_Her smile grew a bit wider as she remembered the time she had indeed transmitted a cold to him, he caught it, and she had been royally cursed out for it. Alan had spent most of the time on the couch that week sick and as a get well gift, Melody had gotten him Rex the betta fish in the betta bowl. The trumpet player had often remarked on how much he liked betta fish and always meant to get another one someday, so Melody had taken that to heart and gotten him one. _

_Rex had a colorful personality much like his external colors, always very curious of what the humans were doing around him. The fish was a white albino crowntail with pink eyes, one of the rarest kinds of bettas. Melody bought him a one gallon bowl, a resin sculpture of a sunken ship, betta food, water dechlorinator, bloodworms, and the fish was perfectly happy. After he read the book and after he was well again, Alan had bought a mini heater for the bowl which made the betta even more happy. _

_Melody yawned and closed her eyes. _

* * *

_Four hours later, Alan felt the sunshine on his face that was streaming through the still closed blinds and took a look at his girlfriend. _

_"Mel?" he whispered. She opened up her eyes and looked at him with a little smile. "Wow, you're looking at me and I can't see any fever in your eyes." _

_"Shut up." she croaked, giving him a pout of indignance. "Have you no pity for a sick woman?"_

_"You must be on the mend." he chuckled and leaned over to kiss her, then reeled back at the last moment. "What am I thinking?! You're sick!" _

_"Your bedside manner needs improvement, nurse." Melody grimaced as she coughed. _

_"If you could have seen my bedside manner when you were delirious, you wouldn't be saying that." he retorted as he got up and plucked his bathrobe off the back of his desk chair. _

_"OK, I'll give you that." she agreed. "Still feel as weak as hell."_

_"Do you know what time your fever broke?"_

_"Um, around 3:30 this morning."_

_"Four hours then. You can't expect to jump back so easily after you've been so sick."_

_"I hate it when you talk reason." she sighed melodramatically, provoking a laugh from Alan as he went to the bathroom. "The fish didn't die from your neglect, did he?"_

_"Nope. I managed not to kill him." he called as she heard the water start running. _

_"Wow." Melody meant to get up and get herself something from the fridge, but she faded into sleep before she could even throw the covers aside. _

_When she awakened 2 hours later, Alan was sitting beside her on the bed with a book in his hands. He had introduced her to the classic literary collection he loved and Melody had to admit that some of them were very interesting. That day's title of choice was Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. _

_"Adventure tale, eh?" Alan jumped. _

_"Don't do that!" he scolded her as she grinned and avoided a playful swipe from his left hand. "I'm an old man now and one of these days you scare me, I'll keel over and die!"_

_"I give you permission to haunt me then." she giggled. "How long was I delirious?"_

_"Ugh," he turned a page slowly, trying to remember when it was exactly. "About 15 hours, give or take."_

_"Yikes."_

_"You were quite incoherent, Mel. You kept asking where I was."_

_"Did I? Well, I was asking for you, as the physical manifestation of your good side came out from nowhere and took care of me," she joked, recognizing his unsettled look. "I thought your physical good side would be much smaller."_

_Alan lost the pensive expression on his face and laughed as she giggled along with him. "Are you hungry?"_

_"Ravenous." _

_"I'll get you something." he got off the bed as Melody picked up his book and marked the spot he was reading with her finger._

* * *

_Two nights later, Alan and Melody were sitting on the couch and watching a late night movie on a local TV station. Melody had no objections to her boyfriend watching The Godfather, as Alan had been fascinated with it for years. He snaked an arm around her as a commercial break came on and she muted it as Rex watched them intently from his bowl nearby._

_"So what do you think?" Alan glanced down at Melody who was peering over at the betta fish._

_"I think I want to get him a girlfriend." she remarked. _

_"No fish sex!" _

_"Meh. It'd be interesting to breed bettas." _

_"I would ask where you get your ideas, but I don't think that I want to know."_

_"Nobody needs to give me any ideas; I've got plenty on my own." her eyelids sagged down a little bit._

_"Am I keeping you up?"_

_"No." _

_"Sure?"_

_"Yes, Master Alan." she complained. "Watch your damn movie already!"_

_"Oh, fine, Miss Dictator!" he kissed her on the cheek and unmuted the movie when the commercial break was over. _

_Rex circled his bowl a few times, decided nothing was interesting to him anymore, and swam into the sunken ship. Alan looked down at Melody and noticed she was drifting off to sleep beside him. The trumpet player wrapped his arm around her and reclined back, allowing her to use him like a pillow. _

_The red rashes on Melody's throat were almost completely gone, she had been able to go for a checkup that day with Dr. Daniels and had been officially proclaimed on the mend. The doctor had run a full lab test on her, giving her some injections to build herself back up again. Melody tolerated the injections with her usual wry humor, making the doctor laugh. Alan had given a slight roll of his eyes, knowing that she used humor to deflect as well as to entertain. _

_She was under house arrest for the next 2 weeks, with strict orders not to overtax herself. Alan promised that she would behave herself and not relapse, at which point Melody was the one to roll her eyes. _

_Alan made sure she took her medicine that afternoon when they got back, and one of the medicines had made her drowsy, so he wasn't offended that she was falling asleep in the middle of one of the greatest movies of all time, he thought. The engineer never understood his fascination with an old movie, but she didn't trouble herself with it. _

_Melody snuggled up to him, burrowing into his left shoulder like a little child wanting comfort from a parent. With a grin, Alan welcomed her into his embrace and relaxed back with his arm around her shoulders. It was very different from the previous nights, much less anxiety-ridden, he reflected. At least now Melody was on the mend and able to move around the apartment without him watching her every move. He'd permitted her to get up last night, though she was very wobbly on her legs. Melody had told him that it was some slight muscle atrophy and she had to build herself back up. She stretched her legs a bit and was able to ambulate more, reducing her wobbliness. _

_Once more, Alan watched her sleep for a moment, counting his blessings mentally, and gave a contented sigh._

"We're here!" Matt announced as he shifted the car into park, startling Alan from his dream. "All out to get a refuel!" they had arrived at the designated lunch spot. Alan woke Melody up, who complained with a grumble, then got out of the car.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry for the long interval between updates. Went away camping and came down with a bad cold! Been sick for over a week now.

Chapter 8

"So what do you think so far, Buster?" Duck popped the top of a soda can and hauled off of it while he eyed the teenager. They were all sitting outside at several circular tables with stone benches as a gentle breeze blew through. It was sunny and humidity was nonexistent which made them all happier. The teenager gave Duck a grin and turned to face him.

"I think it'll be an amazing midwinter break," he said enthusiastically. "not many kids get to say they came out here!"

"Especially now! You know how many kids are jealous of you?"

"They can just suck it!" the teen proclaimed as he took a drink, making Duck laugh.

Elwood looked over at Buster from the next table, smirking as he chatted up the bass player effortlessly. Murph nudged his friend as a breeze nearly blew his wrapper off the table.

"Yeah, Murph?"

"So what's the game plan, El? Sline give you the details yet?"

"He said he'd email them to me. I have no idea how to get it here... Mel?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you get Sline's directions? He emailed them to me."

Melody flipped her braid off of her shoulder, bent down, and brought out a Google Nexus 7 tablet from her shoulder bag. "I can indeed if we get free WiFi here."

"Do we?" Elwood wasn't technology savvy like she was, hardly any of the band could match her skills apart from Buster. Tom was good with technology but not in their range of skills.

"Yeah. Most places do," she answered as she flicked through the screen, accessing a Gmail account. "let me check to make sure your password is the same... Gotcha! Let me download this and check it..."

Willie nudged Alan. "How do you keep up with her, even after all this time?"

Alan just shrugged. "I think we offset each other's weaknesses that's all." it was the best answer he could come up with, prompting the drummer to laugh and shake his head. It was the mystery of a relationship, what kept two people glued together if not for life, then for a long time at least. Melody continued on, oblivious to her boyfriend and the drummer as she paged through the text document.

"We arrive in the late afternoon and board the ship at sundown," she announced. "Sline's given us a list of places to go for tourism if we want to shop around Long Beach before we board the ship. We have to board before 9 PM so we can meet up with the representatives of this tourism promotion and kickoff event."

"Great!" Buster clapped his hands together in excitement, already thinking about the ghost stories he was going to tell his friends when he got back. He'd had a supper date with the girl he liked in Vegas the night after he'd been attacked, and was already texting his friends to brag about it. "Mel, isn't that place haunted?"

"Yes it is." she announced gleefully as she saved the document and powered off the tablet computer. "I saved this to my smart phone so I can view it at any time."

"What sort of hauntings are we talking about this time?"

"Well Steve, nothing as gruesome as the LaLaurie house, nobody was tortured on this ship, I think. The Queen Mary was used as a troop ship during the second world war and she was a cruise liner in the pre and post war times. There's a reputed ghost in the first class swimming pool, a young man who got crushed to death down in the engine room somewhere, numerous staterooms are haunted, some theorize that the ship itself is one of the 7 portals to the other side."

"Weird," Matt muttered. "as long as they leave me alone, I won't mind!"

"Who knows what might happen?" Melody slung her bag over her shoulder as they stood up to go and clean up. "I'm up for it!"

"You're always up for it!" Lou teased, nudging her with one elbow. "You're so easygoing!"

"Oh no she's not!" Alan guffawed. "When you've seen the things I have when I'm with her, you'll understand what I mean!"

Melody turned red in the face and quickly turned her face to look at the cars, trying to prevent a sly grin from seeping onto her visage. What Alan meant in polite terms was that she generally did not like to experiment with him behind closed doors.

"Um, let's get into the cars and drive, shall we?" Elwood held open the door to the driver's side, pausing as he saw everyone pile into the cars.

* * *

Everyone boarded the Queen Mary in a sense of awe at how big the ship was. Buster and Melody were not inclined to hunt out their rooms right away, but wanted to explore the ship in more detail. The rest of the band shrugged off their curiosity, going down to their rooms to deposit their luggage.

"Wow!" Buster grabbed a brochure and turned to Melody as Alan took her suitcase with a resigned sigh, rolling his eyes playfully as she looked over the edge of the railing to see the water underneath.

"Check this out," Buster and Melody took their own self-guided tour and went from the former captain's cabin, the restaurants, the spa, everywhere. Melody was quite pleased to see the Rostron suite was kept up with, as she greatly admired the Cunard captain.

"Wow! Buster, get a picture of me in here!" she was permitted to get on the bed, so she sprawled out on her belly, propped up her head with her hands under her chin, grinning coyly as Buster took the picture, giggling. Melody had dressed in a nautical themed outfit, wearing a black and white striped polo shirt and red shorts. She wore a pair of flip flops that had red stitching under white monogrammed anchors.

"So do you like Captain Rostron?" they got up as the steward took a picture of them both on either side of Rostron's portrait.

"Very much. I have the book he wrote. He told some good stories and I try to be like him, very uncomplicated and devoted to duty."

"Great." Buster and Melody went out on the bow, where neither one of them cared to admit that it was a shame the great ship was drydocked instead of making the transatlantic runs anymore. It would have cost more since the ship was so old, but both were happy that the ship was not sold for scrap and taken to the boneyard like so many others. Buster owned a big coffee table book called Lost Liners by Bob Ballard, whom Melody had met once long ago, which told the entire story of many ships including the Queen Mary.

"You know, Rostron was offered the chance to be this ship's first captain," Buster mentioned as they leaned against the taffrail. Melody sat down on a bronze capstan after a moment. "he refused. I think it was his second officer James Bisset on the Carpathia with him captained her first. Can't remember exactly."

"I believe you anyway. I did some research on James Bisset, or Sir James Bisset as he did get knighted like Rostron. There is a Bisset suite here, he did write some books."

Before Buster could reply, Elwood's voice permeated the deck. "Are you two done exploring so we can get some supper now?"

"Oh, fine." Buster mocked, moving away from the taffrail as Alan joined them, along with Willie and Steve.

"What is this thing?" the trumpet player sat next to Melody.

"It's called a capstan, Alan. It was used for winding ropes back when ships of merchant mariners had sails. These ones are just ornamental." she rapped on the capstan, which produced a tinny thud. "Back when things were made to last." Alan guffawed, stood up, offered his hand to his fiancee, helping her up.

Making their way to the first class dining area, everyone was attended to promptly. Everyone marveled at how wonderfully the ocean liner had been preserved, restored to her prewar furnishings by generous donors. Melody and Buster felt like they had stepped back in time, and Buster half expected Sir Rostron or Sir Bisset to come in through the doors and dine with them. He felt it was a great shame that he had been born too late to meet those extraordinary men, but the records of their deeds remained.

"Oh, Melody," Alan casually said as the supper was ending. "I got a present for you. I bought it last night when you were sleeping."

"I'm almost ready to zonk out now," she answered him, stifling a yawn. "what is it?"

"This," Alan pulled out a small jewelry box and presented to Melody a sapphire in a trillion style cut with two small diamonds on either side of the sapphire. He remembered well Melody's fondness for the color blue, and her love of silver jewelry, as the ring itself was silver. "do I need to ask you again?"

"Wow!" Elwood and Mack trumpeted. The rest of the band gazed at Melody to see what her answer would be. She picked up the box and put it down on the table, then threw her arms around Alan, giving him a big smooch. Everyone wanted to applaud, but Matt took the liberty of calling for champagne.

"Oh Alan, do you think I could ever say no to you?" Melody beamed as he pulled away from her to get his breath. "Can we get hitched on this ship?"

"Are we allowed to?"

"Yeah. The captain is an ordained minister."

"How about we do it after the concert series is over? It'll be a great way to cap off our stay."

"Great, then I can get a decent outfit."

"Don't go nuts," he warned her. "I like you when you keep it simple most of all."

"I wanna get glammed up at least a bit." she batted her eyes at him. Alan pulled the ring out of the box and put it on her left ring finger. "It's beautiful."

"I remembered how much you love the color blue, like the ocean."

"Indeed I do." the waiter brought the champagne, Mack said Buster could try it for this occasion only, and they all drank to Alan and Melody's future, bestowing their wishes upon the couple. The ring felt heavy on Melody's finger, as she was unused to wearing jewelry apart from her Celtic knot thumb ring that she had inherited.

"Come on guys, I hear my bed calling me." Duck and Lou stood up, followed by Willie and Matt. The four of them made their way for the former first class cabins, tired out by the long day.

Upon doing his bedtime routine, Matt changed into his pajamas and drew back the covers, preparing to slide in when he heard a small crash from the closet. "The hell?" the guitar player opened up the closet, finding a hanger had fallen down. "How the hell could this fall down when the door was closed?" he questioned the space around him. When no answer was forthcoming, Matt wanted to ask Melody or Buster, but the two of them were somewhere around the ship and he didn't feel up to tracking them down. Shrugging it off, he got into bed and soon fell asleep.

Duck had been asleep for two hours when he came awake abruptly for no reason. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he got up and walked to the porthole, trying to find out whether someone was being rowdy and woke him up. Not finding an answer in the vacant deck, he went back to sleep.

Willie and Lou had similar experiences and each one remembered that Melody was a big fan of the paranormal, researching it when she had the time. Each resolved to ask her about it, or Buster, since he was steadily getting into the paranormal as well. Melody influenced him to learn more about it.

* * *

Melody and Alan sat out on the deck for a little while, curled up on a chair and chatting about their upcoming wedding ceremony. Neither one liked the idea of a big church wedding, with all the headaches and money that had to be put into it. A civil service ceremony with their friends and the captain was very low key, just what they had in mind.

"Do you want us to see each other before the ceremony?" Alan queried, fondling her right hand.

"Yes. Screw traditions and superstitions. I want simple, I will wear a nice skirt and top, as I don't like dresses much at all. I'll look nice, you'll look nice as well," she warned him. Alan smirked.

"I won't insult you." he assured her, thinking he'd wear the only pair of nice chino pants he'd brought with him.

"You damn well better not!" his fiancee teased with a laugh. "We'll have an informal reception in the dining room, we can all sing karaoke and have a good time. I don't want anyone going to extravagant lengths for us. It's the KISS principle."

"Keep It Simple, Stupid." Alan chuckled. "So, no throwing of flowers and no garters?"

"The only ones on the ship would be us. Who would we throw them to?"

"Good point."

"In the meantime, let's hit the sack," Alan yawned. "been a long day."

"Yes indeed. Buster and I are going on a spook tour while you guys set up in the ballroom." Alan got up first, extending a hand to Melody and helping her up.

"Always with the spooks, eh?"

"Comes with the full package," she wiggled her eyebrows comically. "we're going down to the door where one of the seamen was crushed to death with the door coming down on him. It'll be interesting."

"You won't contact any of these ghosts now, will you?"

"No. We want to document only. Buster got in touch with a paranormal group out here and they lent us their electromagnetic field meter or EMF, and their temperature camera so we can see if there's any ghostly activity." Melody said eagerly.

Alan shook his head, though Melody was used to his skepticism by now. The couple went to their room, changed and got ready for bed. As they were about to drift off, Melody felt a pressure settling right on her chest, her eyes opened, and a strange mist was descending upon her. Trying to breathe, she attempted to move, but couldn't. After a moment, the feeling of pressure decreased and she was able to sit up.

The engineer gasped sharply, startling Alan, who sat up as well, putting an arm around Melody, who hacked loudly as she tried to get her breath back. "Mel? What is it?"

"Sleep... paralysis," she rasped. "never had it... before..."

"Come on. Do you need your inhaler?"

"No..." she forced herself to breathe normally after a moment and faced Alan. "I think I was just attacked by a ghost."

"Really, Mel?" he asked her, skepticism clearly evident in his features. Melody rolled her eyes. She sometimes was frustrated by his firm belief there was no such things as ghosts, yet she hoped he would change his mind someday. Sleep paralysis was uncommon but reported to happen to people when they were under stress.

"I was attacked by a ghost in New Orleans," she grew indignant. "I know you don't believe, but if I say stuff like this, just smile and nod, OK?"

"Fine." he did so comically, making Melody laugh. "Can we get some sleep now?"

"Yes. I won't let the ghosts keep me or you up."

"Good girl." he shifted as Melody lay back down and spooned her, one arm across her hip. Melody inwardly noticed the odd mist had disappeared and wondered what would await them the next day.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Exploring

Alan woke up slowly the next day, stretching and pulling the covers off. The trumpet player peered over at Melody, wondering if she had any long lasting ill effects from what she had suffered the previous night. Fortunately she looked the same as she always did, lying supine beside him, a few stray hairs in her closed eyes. He leaned over her, moving aside her hair so he could take in her natural beauty for a moment.

Melody always looked the cutest to him when she was asleep. She was very relaxed, her features all smoothed out so that she looked younger. Alan remembered her when she was younger, back when they had first started dating. It had been during her first tour with the band, then after she was attacked by lunatic, Alan was drawn more to her.

When she was recovering from her bullet wound, Alan came over to her apartment and stayed for a few weeks, making sure she was well cared for. The engineer didn't mind, but he began to suspect after a few days that she had some anxiety about being out in public. Melody would sit near the window to look outside but when he offered to walk around with her, she would turn pale and politely refuse. He let that ride for a few more days, then thought that she needed professional help when he woke up in the middle of the night and found her unable to sleep.

He remembered it so well. Melody had been sitting by the window in the bedroom, looking even more washed out in the low light from the streetlamps outside. He crossed over to her, sat down beside her, and let her lean into him as he rubbed her back, careful to avoid her injured shoulder. Alan quite enjoyed quiet time with Melody, they frequently cuddled up on the couch together whenever they had time.

Alan brought himself back to reality as Melody stirred, then sank back into sleep. He kissed her on the cheek then got up and began to do his morning routine.

Just as he was finishing up, he came out of the bathroom and saw that Melody was sitting up in bed, combing her hair and looking oddly pensive. He tossed the towel back onto the rack and crossed over to her as he picked up his light blue windbreaker. "What's up, Mel?"

"Huh? Oh, just thinking about the attack on me last night," she answered, accepting her cell phone he handed to her. "it's very odd. I've never had an attack like this before at all. I'm not prone to them, as they usually happen when some people are under stress."

"Well..." Alan trailed off as he remembered Melody's just-smile-and-nod policy whenever she got long winded on the paranormal. She gave him a sharp look and he reverted to the smile and nod. Melody gave him an appreciative glance as she got up out of the bed, crossed to the suitcase, then assembled her outfit for the day.

"Where are you and Buster actually going today?"

Melody paused a moment as she gathered up her towel to admire the ring on her finger. The sunlight through the window caught the brilliance of the stones as she turned the ring. Alan smiled at her obvious infatuation with the symbol of his love for her as he put his hand on the doorknob.

"I'm going to catch breakfast with the others and we'll be setting up in the ballroom around 1 PM."

"I'll be there. Buster and I will be at lunch at noontime." Alan nodded and left, leaving Melody to take a shower and get dressed in relative peace. Buster knocked on the door, then sat down on the bed, paused, then began to make the bed.

As he waited for his friend and mother figure, Buster was momentarily distracted from his wait by a faint mist appearing to drift into the room from under the door. Speechless, he saw the mist coalesce and appear into the outline and then full figure of a person he recognized as Captain Rostron.

"My god," he stared incredulously at the ghost. "sir?"

Rostron looked the same as he had during his sailing days with the Cunard line before the world wars intervened. He was in his civilian clothes, black pants with black shoes and a black suit jacket with white undershirt. Rostron wore a black derby on his head as he looked at the teenager sternly for a moment.

"Son," he spoke in a clear tenor voice that commanded authority. Buster remembered Rostron had joined the navy when he was younger and had attained the rank of commander before he retired. "you're in danger here and so is your friend."

"How is that, sir?"

"There are angry spirits here which will feed off of you or your friend. I can't protect you but I can give you advance warning. The spirits are attracted to the lady you are with for some reason."

"How can we protect ourselves?"

"Honestly, the best way to protect all of you is if you want to go spirit hunting you should say a prayer of protection. Wearing a cross necklace will demonstrate your sincerity to your religion or religions."

"We will do that. Mel has one in here somewhere." Buster picked up her small jewelry bag and routed around in it until a small golden crucifix pendant necklace fell out. He straightened up to see Rostron looking at him with approval. "When we were at the LaLaurie house in the French quarter of New Orleans, a spirit attacked Melody and she was hurt."

The commander nodded sagely. "I know. Your friend has sought comfort from the paranormal ever since her aunt died."

"Comfort?" Buster questioned, narrowing his eyebrows as he tried to piece together what Rostron had said. The ghost gave him a small smile.

"When her aunt died, Melody began reading on encounters of the paranormal. She took comfort in the stories of how loved ones came back from beyond the grave. It hasn't happened to her, but she believes now that there is life after death and her aunt and father did not suffer." the late commander explained.

"Makes sense." Buster reasoned. "I mean after all, it is the most comforting to believe and know really that her aunt's suffering ended and she's now in a better place."

"Indeed. Your friend has an aura about her that draws the spirits to her, negative and positive. Protect her, young man." Rostron began to fade out gradually as Buster tried his best to salute. He heard the water turn off from the bathroom, Melody hummed to herself as she toweled off and a few minutes later she appeared in the bedroom, rubbing the ends of her hair dry.

"Hey, kid," she was dressed in jean shorts, flip flops, and a red tank top. "what's up?"

"Mel, you won't believe this," he told her the appearance of Rostron's ghost. Melody's eyes widened and her jaw hung open for a moment.

"Wow!" she exclaimed. "He didn't say hi to me!"

"No matter." Buster led her out of the room and down to the first class dining room. "I'm sure he'll stop by before we leave."

"Yeah, sure," Melody put her hands on the brass doorknobs and gave them a twist. The hinges needed to be oiled and they squeaked loudly as they entered the room. Alan and the rest of the band were already sitting down and ready to order as Melody sat next to her fiance, Buster was between Duck and Willie. "so, how's everyone doing?"

She had opened up the door. The bandmembers told her in turn about their experiences and she related the sleep paralysis or SP attack.

"You've never had them before?" Murph put in his order.

"No and that's the odd thing." she mused. "Never had them at all. Maybe it's a sign something is going to happen." Alan bit back his retort and exchanged glances with Elwood and Mack. Neither one of them had any particular feelings towards the paranormal one way or the other, as Mack had a few childhood frights but nothing more than that. Whenever Elwood had been spooked, Jake had been there to calm him when they were growing up.

"Well anyhow," Tom continued as they were being served. "who's lookin' forward to helping out with the setup later on?"

"Buster and me are doing some exploring after we're done here," Melody announced, taking a drink. "I got my cell phone on and we will be down deeper into the ship."

"All right." Lou and Willie chimed in as the waiters started arriving.

* * *

After breakfast, Buster assembled the EMF meter and temperature camera as Melody brought a notebook to note any potential sightings or feelings. The rest of the band began to loiter about as the promoters of the event started to design the fliers for the event. The promoters had already designed fliers, but they thought a little extra would not be a bad thing in a different eye-catching design. Alan had volunteered Melody to help design, as she had an interest in graphic art, but she had declined, saying the impromptu ghost hunt was more enticing.

"God, I hope she doesn't get herself or the kid in trouble," Alan worried as he stood outside on what had been the bridge of the ship back in its glory days. "they're asking for it."

"You're actually worried about them?" Willie came up next to his bandmate, surprising him, followed by Matt. "Never knew you to believe in the paranormal, Alan."

"Yeah, Mel and the kid will be all right." Matt's southern drawl sounded clearly in the midmorning. "After everything she's already been through? A ghost wouldn't spook her, even if they're real."

"I don't know," Alan watched a seagull fly by, sqawking madly as it was chased by another one. "Mel and the paranormal don't exactly mix. Remember what happened last time?"

"Sure." Melody had been spooked by a ghost and had taken a fall down a flight of stairs. She had suffered a sprained rotator cuff in her left shoulder and it had taken several weeks to heal. There had been talk of surgery when they were home and their primary care doctor had taken a look, but Melody had declined, saying she was happy to wait extra time to heal.

It hadn't bothered him that much back then, but now he was starting to worry more. Alan didn't know why exactly, but he reasoned to himself that it probably had something to do with the fact that they were now engaged. Or maybe it was a combination of the past and now that she was indeed betrothed to him.

"You doubt she can handle herself and Buster?" Willie questioned. Alan winced inwardly as the drummer folded his arms and leaned on the taffrail, his eyes scanning the forecastle deck.

"No, I think she can handle it, but based on past experience, something will happen."

"But don't ghosts come out at night?" the drummer looked sideways at him. "Nothing could happen to them during the day."

"Guess you're right." Alan relented as he turned to look at Matt. "She can handle herself."

"There you go. It's natural to be worried about your fiancee." the guitar player assured him.

"Why in the hell would that be?"

"Nothing simpler, man," they walked off the bridge. "now she's bound to you by the engagement and your marriage is quite a formal thing, no matter how you celebrate it. You're making it legal now and therefore you worry more for her and she will worry more about you."

* * *

A few decks below Buster opened up the door into what used to be the engine room.

"I think a ship misjudged their position in the fog and rammed into this one," he remarked as he jumped the last few rungs in the ladder and landed in the dusty wide open space. Melody followed him, glad to have brought a flashlight on their adventure. She turned it on and aimed the beam into the deep darkness, seeing the deep red of the rusty looking hull plates.

"Late tonight how about we cover cabin B340?" Melody's eyes shone with excitement and Buster smirked. She might have been well advanced in age like Alan, but she had the excitement of a 10-year-old.

"That was where a reputed murder took place, right?" he flicked on the EMF meter. "Nothing so far. How far are we going down here anyway?"

"This is where the engines were before they got rid of them," Melody inspected the area. "Nothing more than a few feet. I don't want to get turned around and get lost down here."

"According to the website I checked, I think we need to go up a level and head for door 13."

"Why did you drag me down here then?" Melody play-whined and went up the ladder again.

Once they were in the correct place, Melody began to take temperature readings and Buster did an immediate sweep with the EMF meter to detect any fluctuations.

"The story here?"

"The site says that a young man was playing a game with some others, trying to see how many times he could go back and forth before the door caught him. Bad luck that the door had to be number 13." the teenager quipped as Melody chuckled.

"Indeed, kid." she trained the camera on the door and waited a few moments. "The thermal imaging camera isn't picking up on anything yet."

"No EMF fluctuations at all. There's only lights on down here, the doors don't work at all for safety reasons." Buster reported. "Let's sit a bit."

"OK." Melody and Buster sat down on the gangway. "So let's train the thermal camera on this door and see what happens."

"All right." Buster looked at Melody and a smile crept across his face at the thought of her and Alan finally tying the knot. She was watching the camera and didn't see his grin, but Buster was quite excited for the end of the gig when the ceremony would take place.

"Mel?"

"Hmm?"

"What's it going to be like?"

"What's what going to be like?"

"Your wedding to Alan," he explained. "will you wear a white dress?"

"That's cliche, don't you think?" she teased affectionately. "No, I want the ceremony to take place on the bridge at sunset. I'll wear a skirt and a shirt, Alan will wear something casual like his tan chino pants I made him take along."

"Bet he's grateful now."

"He will pretend to be if nothing else. If he knows what's good for him."

"The lady's always right!" Buster laughed. "Alan should know that by now."

"He says I keep him on the level. I wear many hats, Buster."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm the accountant as in I manage the money and pay the bills, I on occasion chauffeur him around, I cook, I clean, I even nurse him when he's sick."

"Does he do the same to you?"

"Don't you remember when I had scarlet fever? That was a pretty scary one if I remember right."

Buster shuddered. "I remember it. You were so ill you didn't recognize me at all. Alan was really worried for you. I think he might have thought you would die."

"I wasn't conscious enough to think about that. All I had were odd and twisted dreams float through my head while I was so out of it."

"Like what?"

"I don't remember them now, Bus. It was a long time ago."

"Oh. What's that?" the EMF meter went off as the thermal camera showed a peculiar anomaly. "It's jumped from 2 to 10!"

"Holy frig! Look at that." a mysterious blob appeared at the door that the camera picked up as a 68 degrees. "Wonder if this is the guy which got crushed?"

"Who else would it be?" Buster retorted as he stood up and aimed the camera in closer. The amorphous blob seemed to stay still but grew in heat two degrees. "Doesn't seem to be doing anything."

"Well, I'm not guessing around," Melody proclaimed as she sat up. "let's get an accurate reading of this. What we really should have around is a medium, but I don't put a lot of stock in them anyway. Very few are genuine if at that."

Buster was surprised at her for a moment, thinking mediums were genuine, but he was a teenager and still had a lot to learn. Melody had bad experiences with mediums when she first got into the paranormal field when she was still a teenager herself. The very first investigation she was on, the medium had gone on the preliminary walking tour with the leader of the investigation and the leader had led the medium on with incorrect information. On the investigation itself, the medium started reporting what the leader had said as fact, thereby proving that the medium wasn't real at all.

"I see." was all he said. Melody noted down the time, location, temperature and EMF fluctuations in the area. Buster held the camera and studied the specter invisible to their eyes, stepped forward, and then waved his hand in the mass, not surprised when his hand went right through it.

"Try not to agitate it, Buster."

"Remember what Rostron told me," he turned his blue eyes upon her almost pleadingly. "don't do anything that would agitate it."

"I'm just documenting it, Buster. Does Rostron think that I have an aura about me that just sets them off?"

"I think so. Why else would that ghost in New Orleans attack you so nastily?"

"Because it was a nasty ghost to start with?"she said, somewhat irritated. People on paranormal investigations with her before had always speculated on that. Indeed she had been harmed several times, but she never questioned why, dismissing it as something that just happens.

Buster let it go at that and focused in on the camera as he saw the mass as it started moving towards Melody. She wasn't looking into the camera at the time so she did not see it coming. The teenager watched for a moment as the anomaly moved right across the screen and edged towards over to Melody slowly, as if it was checking her out, liking what it saw.

"Mel.."

"Not now, Buster. Elwood texted me." she pulled out her phone and faced away from him as she prepared to use the Swype feature on her phone.

"Umm..."

"Not now." her voice became a little firmer in warning. "Swear to God my fingers can't be tiny enough to text or Swype even!"

The anomaly reached the space right behind her and the temperature went up to 90 degrees alarmingly fast. "MEL!"

She finally turned to face him, irritated and concerned. "What?" thrusting her phone in her pocket, she narrowed her eyes at the teen, who was now as white as a sheet.

"Duck!" even more confused, she did not see the anomaly launch itself at her violently as Buster jumped back a few paces. To her, it was a feeling of unbearable heat right in her center that appeared and disappeared in a flash. The engineer immediately felt drained, her knees buckled, and she backed up against the rail as the anomaly disappeared.

"It's gone," Buster reported as he turned the camera off. "Mel? You OK?"

"Wow," she breathed raspily. "I'll be OK, once I get up on deck and sit down."

"I think it's time to leave anyway. Can you stand?"

"Yup." she accomplished standing up, then she lost a little bit of color. Through her stern resolve, she made it up to the boat deck and collapsed in a deck chair. "I'm OK. If anyone asks, I fell asleep in the chair here, OK?"

"Yeah." he agreed quickly. "I'm gonna go and see how the others are doing. Don't get sunburned!"

"Sun's not high enough yet, kid." her eyes were already closing.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: First Night Performance

"Mel?" a voice sounded from her far right. She groaned and turned to her left, wanting to ignore the voice and get back to her dozing. It had been at least an hour since the excursion downstairs and she wanted some quiet time. Someone sat down next to her and put a hand on her arm, meaning for her to wake up.

_"What is it?" her eyes opened up and she saw an almost ethereal light glinting off the seawater. Turning to her right, she beheld the same vision that Buster himself had described to her earlier that morning._

_"Captain Rostron?" he was in his full navy regalia now, outfitted in his dress uniform and had gold braid draping on his left shoulder. "I must be dreaming."_

_"If it pleases you, you may think that," he answered amusingly in a little singsong voice. Melody studied his blue eyes and stern looking face. "I am here as a warning to you."_

_"Are you?" Melody sat up in her chair. "What foreboding messages have you to give me?"_

_"I want you to know that there are nasty spirits on board-not downright malicious, but they are spiteful and they already have their eyes on you." _

_The engineer knew to take his warning seriously. "What sort of danger are talking about?" the sea ominously started to turn dark around them as Rostron stepped closer to her. Unfazed, she stood as tall as she could make herself. _

_Rostron nodded like he'd been gauging her reaction. With his eyes sparkling, radiating good humor like his colleagues had always spoken of, he reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. Melody touched his hand briefly, staring up at him openly. He was one of her heroes, going along, doing the job without complaint, and when the occasion called for it, going to people in need. _

_"There are a few spirits here, one is of a person who drowned in the first class pool in the thirties, and there's another one who was murdered in the first class dining room. Both are very nasty and will not hesitate to cause you or the young man harm."_

_"What sort of harm are we talking about, Commodore?" _

_"Straight to the point, aren't you?" he commented. _

_"I like to get all the information relevant and go back to what I was doing before." she replied as nicely as possible, unwilling to arouse the commodore's ire. _

_"Standard run-of-the-mill type things, knock you about a bit, that sort of thing. I understand one spirit entered or passed through you earlier and that is why you are so tired now."_

_"Is there anything I can do to speed up the time that I need to recover from that?"_

_"I'm afraid not," he said sympathetically. "only time can heal it. There will be no aftereffects as far as I know. You will be good as new. I would caution you to be more careful, as you are not as young as you used to be."_

_"Sir, my age is not a relevant topic really. I go out and do things people half my age wouldn't dream of." _

_The commodore's grin grew wider. "Your attitude is refreshing, especially in this day and age where people whine and moan, not to mention act like little children." _

_"Telling me! Anyway sir, I do have to get back to my fiance."_

_"Congratulations." Rostron backed off and began to fade out into the background as Melody began to wake up._

The engineer found herself on the deck chair like she was previously, wide awake and looking about to see if anyone was missing her yet. None of the band nor Alan or Buster had come wandering or calling her, so she took a moment to stand up and stretch before glancing at her cell phone for the time.

"Lunchtime!" Melody ambled off towards the first class dining room, hoping she wouldn't get lost along the way.

At the same time, Tom, Lou, and Murph were walking up to the first class dining room as well, gossiping among themselves when they came to the end of a corridor. Tom stopped them suddenly, narrowing his eyes as he peered down the next hallway.

"What is it?" Lou started to step forward again but Tom held him back.

"Look down there for a moment."

"I don't see anything there."

"Hang on a moment," Tom walked forward and into what looked like a white mist gathering at the exit door. "interesting." he felt a bit chilled but did not see anything out of the ordinary aside from the mist. "do you guys see it now?"

"I see something," Murph squinted. "a kind of whiteness."

"Right. This is the kind of thing I think that Melody and Buster are into. We'll ask them about that at lunchtime."

The three musicians marched towards the exit again as the white mist dissipated. Murph's eyes wandered around the corridor, seeing the dark wood paneling and old wallpaper. The mustiness was evident to all 3 of them, proof that the rooms were seldom inhabited. He touched a doorknob, his finger came away with a light dust film. It was not time for tourist season yet and the rooms had yet to be cleaned for all the tourists that would come to visit the former majestic ocean liner.

Murph had always been a stickler for details, he'd be the band's spokesperson when Elwood wasn't able to, Murph ran interference for them, explaining away Elwood or Mack's absences, volunteering Melody when he knew she would perform a useful service on repairing electronics, etc. He pulled out the itinerary from his back pocket and double checked when the first performance would be.

"First show's tonight," he announced as they opened up the doors to the dining room, seeing Melody, Buster, and Elwood already there. "rehearsal and sound check this afternoon to make sure we sound good."

"All right. We meet at 2, run through the show, then we do call time at 7," Elwood proclaimed as Murph put the sheet of paper down on the table, pulling out a pen and marking it down. "everyone has to get that."

"The rest of them should be here soon for lunch, El. This is the only place that's open on the ship." Mack had just entered the dining room, followed by Willie.

"If they're hungry enough, they'll find it." Willie sat down on one side of Lou and brought his hands together in a clap. "What's for eats? I'm starvin'!"

Melody's laughter could be heard throughout the dining room as Alan and Duck emerged from one of the side doors with Steve in tow.

Throughout lunch, Alan's eyes kept getting drawn to the ring on Melody's left ring finger where the ring was displayed, glinting in the sunlight that streamed in through the windows. The sapphire was the main reason he'd bought it, knowing that she loved the color blue and thought sapphires were beautiful. She was so easily pleased sometimes, taking a sapphire over a diamond so the cost was less, something else he was happy about as well.

* * *

"Well!" Alan watched Melody fling herself onto the king size bed in their room. She got on her knees and pulled up a corner of her shirt provocatively. "What do you want to do now?"

"I can think of a few things," he got onto the bed next to her and began to slide his hands under her shirt, working them up. "the first one needs some leeway, so this is going to have to come off."

"Um hmmm," she teased, putting her fingers in his hair to card through it. Melody had a fondness for his black hair back when it was black. "I love your hair."

"I love yours too." When he had met her, Melody's hair had been dirty blonde, but now she had gone full gray, but she dyed her hair frequently to hide her age. Alan didn't mind, especially since she got her dye jobs done at a salon, sparing the trumpet player the smells of the process.

"So we're going to need to take this off, it'll just get in the way, trust me." Alan stripped off her shirt as she sneaked her hands around to slide them into the back pockets of his jeans. Liking the fact that Melody was all pressed up against him, he took his eyes off of her face and zeroed in on her full bra. She had been wearing a black and white lacy bra with a small white bow in the center. "This will just be in the way too." he unsnapped it.

"Oh, this will definitely be in the way," Melody unbuttoned his pants, teasing him by unzipping his fly slowly. "well, I think I've made my point clear, don't you?"

The trumpet player responded with a feral growl, getting ready for action.

* * *

Elwood and Mack decided to head down to the first class swimming pool to take a look around. The bartender had borrowed Buster's book on the paranormal happenings on the Queen Mary, browsed through it, and decided that the drowning at the pool would be the most interesting to him.

"So let's take a look down there, shall we?" the singer buttoned up his jacket and turned to his friend. The bartender gave an indifferent shrug, following Elwood as he opened up a gangway door, clattering down the stairs. At the former first class reception area where a big gaudy staircase dominated the room, they went around back and operated one of the old but still working perfectly elevators. They plugged in the number for the appropriate floor, waited a few minutes, then parted the decorative golden grilles.

"What are we exactly hoping to see down here, Mack?" they walked into the vast space, their footsteps tinny sounding to their own ears.

"Anything unusual," Mack did watch some Ghost Hunter episodes with Buster when they both had time. "temperature spikes, weird shadows, etcetera."

"All right. Should we split up?"

"Sure. You take the locker rooms."

"Right." Elwood went to the back of the room, passing by the diving board and stairs. He wandered around the male locker room for a long moment, searching with his eyes for anything that looked out of place.

Mack went down into the pool itself, the water having been drained out decades ago. Putting his hands in his pockets, he walked around, not really seeing anything in particular. His thoughts wandered to Buster, knowing the teenager was growing up and it wouldn't be long before he was out on his own. The bartender felt a bit sad already, but knew Buster had to grow up eventually and find his own way. A year ago, Buster had a part time job tending horses in a stable for a nearby horse farm, and last summer he'd taken a job for Willie, bussing tables and doing general cleanup.

Something seemed to flit just past his field of vision. When it happened again, he just barely caught it out of the corner of his eye.

"The hell?" coming out of the swimming pool, Mack turned around, trying to track down the elusive shadow. "Elwood, did you see that?"

"See what?" emerging from the women's locker room, Elwood went over to his friend and looked upwards. "I don't see anything, Mack."

"It was right there!" Mack pointed. "I saw a dark shadow run across the wall and disappear."

"Did it look like anything or was it just a blob?"

"It was almost human-shaped." the aforementioned blob raced across the exit door, making Mack jump in fright. "There it went again!"

"Come on," Elwood took him by the arm and checked his watch. "we're due in at rehearsal."

"All right. I hope Mel and Buster will like that I saw something."

* * *

At the rehearsal, Alan was doing warmups, Willie was just sitting down when Elwood and Mack came in. A few minutes later the guitar section came in, followed by Murph and Tom. Lou, Buster, and Melody came in ten minutes later, all gossiping and giggling over a joke the sax player had told them.

"We, Mack and I, went down to the pool area where a person drowned and Mack saw something, I don't know what it was, he couldn't really say either."

Buster came forward as Melody set her microphone stand beside Lou's. Mack eyed his surrogate son with a wry smile as the young man said, "Congrats, Mack! You've seen your first ghost!"

Elwood shook his head with a slight grin. Mack had told Buster he could call him Dad when he was first adopted, but it didn't feel right to the teenager. Besides, it was a team effort to keep Buster on the right track and the two adults were both fathers to him. Calling both of them Dad would be confusing, so the teen kept right on calling them Mack and Elwood.

"Do I win a prize?"

"Not yet. I would think your prize is that you didn't get harmed." Alan and Tom paused in their conversation, looking over at the teen.

"Come again?"

"Every time Melody's been around ghosts, she gets attacked," Buster clarified. "be glad you were not."

"Every time?" Alan remembered Buster and Melody had gone down to check out a ghost sighting earlier that day. "Mel, did you get hurt today as well?" he gave her a stern look.

She sighed and gave him a look back that was part exasperation and part fondness. "I'm absolutely fine!"

"Really? How do I know for sure?"

She leaned in closer to him and lowered her voice considerably so the others couldn't hear. "You checked me out earlier, remember?" he snorted and gave her a kiss. Tom smiled and looked away from them, catching a glance from Duck.

"All right, are we ready to practice?" Elwood's voice boomed out as he took the microphone in one hand.

One hour of practice later, two of the promoters of the event walked in. One was a short and rotund lady with a head full of curly brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a pair of jeans, a sleeveless white top, and flip flops. The other was a man who was as tall as Elwood, had dark blonde hair, brown eyes, and was muscular. He wore a blue shirt with white pinstripes, tan chinos and sneakers.

"Well, you guys are just the band we needed for this event!" the lady bubbled in enthusiasm as Elwood called a break. She went over and shook Elwood's hand, then Mack's. "I'm Charlene Timmons, I belong to the promoting group of this event."

"Pleasure."

Melody looked up as she stepped down from the stage, followed by Alan and Tom. She saw the man and as soon as she had moved aside to let Alan and Tom descend, she froze.

"Mel, what is it?" Tom put a hand on her shoulder. The engineer had turned pale as the man talked to Elwood and Mack. Alan saw the look on her face as well, took her arm, then dragged her aside to talk to her. He managed to break her eye contact with the man by forcing her to move so that her back was to him.

"What is it, Mel?" Alan demanded. "Are you sick again?" she had turned even paler in the last few moments.

"See that man?" she managed.

"What about him?" he glanced at him.

"That's my brother."

"You do look a bit like him... which one is he?" it had been many years since he had met Melody's brothers and his recollections were dim.

"That's Jesse. He's ex military and lives out here in Long Beach. I didn't know that he would be part of the promoter group."

"Why are you so worked up?" Alan led her backstage where they found a few armchairs to sit in. Melody bit her lip and sighed.

"I haven't seen him in 30 years, Alan. Wouldn't you be nervous? He doesn't call, we're not close, I don't think he even knows that I exist anymore!"

At a loss, Alan couldn't think of a thing to say to her. He was an only child and therefore did not have to deal with estranged brothers. The trumpet player did understand her frame of mind, how to react when a family member suddenly shows up after years of silence. Melody fidgeted, cluelessly wondering about what to do next.

"So why don't we just stay away from him for now?" was all Alan could suggest. "I'll talk to Elwood and Mack later on to see if your brother mentions you. If he doesn't, then you don't have anything to worry about."

"What if he does?"

"Well, social conventions dictate you would at least say hi to him. After that, you can pretend he doesn't exist anymore." he reasoned, taking her hand. "In 3 days, we'll be married and heading back to Calumet City."

"Yes indeed. So let's get hustling." Melody stood up, color regained, and took Alan's arm. Together they went out onto the boat deck until the rehearsal resumed.

* * *

"That was interesting," Elwood commented at suppertime. "that guy promoter, Jesse, you notice he looks a bit like you, Mel?"

Alan squeezed her hand under the table. Elwood was not very good at keeping secrets. If she told him Jesse was her brother, he would broadcast it around for all the band to hear. Mack and the entire band knew this, so each told him very little about their own personal lives.

"Just a coincidence, El," she airily brushed him off. "so what's the set list for tonight? Anyone got a list?"

"Right here." Duck handed her over a copy.

Buster took a gulp of his drink, belching loudly. Elwood began to scold him as Mack chortled and the other bandmembers sniggered. To try to top him, Melody hauled off of her beer and let out a monstrous eructation that seemed to rattle the windows.

"Belch off!" in a moment of grade school humor and behavior, everyone inhaled their drinks and came out with various noises of pitch and frequency.

"All right, all right," Mack stood up as the noises died down. "time to get ready to perform."

"All right." Alan echoed, giving Melody a look she knew all too well. She sniggered, took his hand, then led him backstage into an empty dressing room. "This is a bit bigger from what we're used to." their first preshow sex romp had been in an old janitor's closet several years ago. They'd done it several times in equally small areas, but the dressing room was the most spacious place yet.

"Talk about moving up." Melody joked, sliding her hands down Alan's legs, trying to stimulate a certain reflex.

"On my way." he grunted, locking lips with her and shifting over to the couch.

* * *

The performance that night was a huge hit. There had been a few snags with the audio, but nothing major, as Willie had been able to fix it. Buster brought down the house with the James Blunt song, Elwood had two encore songs which caused the audience to roar for more. For a treat, Elwood and Mack allowed the horn and guitar sections to jam, producing fun instrumentals for the audience to dance to.

Jesse had not been at the performance. Elwood had said nothing about the guy who looked a bit like Melody at all, making her think that Jesse hadn't known she was there.

"Well, you can put that thought out of your head," Alan remarked. "no problems, right?" they walked out of the ballroom and went towards their hotel room after the audience had cleared out. Melody still felt unsettled but she put it out of her head and tried to smile at Alan. He opened up the door to their room and ushered her in.

The trumpet player was oblivious to her discomfort, happily getting ready for bed as Melody stood in front of the mirror on the wall and combed her hair slowly. Alan turned out the light and fell asleep quickly as she put down the comb, turned out the light, and opened up the window to let some air in. She went to bed but had a hard time falling asleep.

Near 2 AM, Melody woke up and could not get back to sleep. She glanced over at Alan, who was still soundly asleep, then got up and left the room, drawing her robe around her. Outside she felt a bit better with the sea breeze lightly caressing her face.

Confused by her emotions, Melody was truly glad that Jesse had not mentioned her to Elwood. One word and Elwood would have spread it all over the ship. He was not known for keeping secrets, many a time he had blurted out someone's thoughts that they had spoken in confidence. Melody clenched the taffrail involuntarily, feeling her eyes well up.

On the other hand, she and Jesse had been in the same room and he had never even looked in her direction. Did he really not recognize her after all those years? Was he angry at her that he didn't say anything? Why did he not try to keep in contact with her at all? She missed her brothers from time to time but now that she'd seen Jesse, it dawned on her how much she really did miss her brother.

It wasn't up to her to fathom her brother's emotions, but she understood hers completely. Some people said that one did not miss something until they were gone, yet Melody believed she didn't miss something or someone until it showed up again and reminded her of how much it was missed at all.

Her face grew wet with tears as she stared out on the horizon for a long time until she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Mel?" a sleepy Alan questioned. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

"Um," her voice cracked as she inwardly swore at herself for not keeping it steady. "I'll be OK."

"You're not OK. What's the matter?"

"Jesse!" she said vehemently, facing Alan. "How could he not recognize me, Alan? How in the hell could he not recognize his own sister?! Do you know how that feels? To be completely unrecognizable and ignored by a brother?"

There was no answer that he could give that would make her feel better. So instead hoping his gesture would supplement the words he couldn't seem to find, Alan wrapped her in an embrace. He allowed her the emotional release she needed, though he still seemed too tongue-tied to say anything at all. Melody was usually very restrained in her emotions, as she was not usually quick to anger. When something cut her deeply like her brother not recognizing her, she tended to express her grief and sorrow behind closed doors so nobody really knew.

It took Alan awhile to get used to that part of her. At first he figured she just wanted to be left alone, but he came to realize that she just needed his comforting words or gestures. The wind shifted and Alan caught a whiff of Melody's scent. She liked lavender a lot and whenever he smelled lavender he would immediately think of her.

When she had regained composure of herself, Alan guided her to bed without a word and snuggled up, letting her know nonverbally that he was there for her no matter what.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Wedding

Over the next few days, the band performed perfectly and gave the promoters great bang for their buck. To Melody's relief, she did not see Jesse again for the rest of the gig. Alan had sharpened his watch over her to make sure she didn't have any more outbreaks of emotion behind closed doors. She acted like her normal self, joking around and gossiping like usual.

"Thank you and goodnight!" Elwood and Mack waved to the audience on their last night aboard the ship. Buster waved as well as the band bowed, grinning in the spotlight and accepting the applause bestowed upon them.

It took about 30 minutes for the audience to leave the ship as the band packed up their equipment. The promoters had the equipment shipped back to Calumet City where Willie would store it in his club until it was needed again.

"I hate to see this end," Buster remarked as he coiled up the cable for one of the amps and tied it fast. "I don't wanna go back to school!"

"Come on, kid. The sooner you graduate school, the sooner you can gig with us on a full time basis," Willie tried to cheer him up. "there's plenty of time for that later."

"Well, I guess that's true. I've only got 2 more years of school to go." he reluctantly said.

"If you can, try to graduate a year early," Murph advised. "sometimes they allow that if you have great grades."

"Mine are decent enough," the teenager allowed. "why don't I talk to the school when I get back and see what they have to stay?"

"It'll be a lot of work," Mack warned him, stacking an amp on top of another one. "be sure you're up for it."

"I will, Mack. I'll study all summer if I have to. I just wanna get out of there!"

"Can't say as I blame you on that one." Duck unplugged his bass.

"Right. Anyway, take that as it comes. Tomorrow is a big day!" Tom put his mouthpiece in the trombone case and snapped it shut with a little rattle.

"How is our bride and groom anyway?" Steve inquired to nobody in particular.

"Remarkably composed actually. I've never seen Alan nervous and he really doesn't seem to be now." the spotlights on the stage dimmed as the houselights came on. Neither Melody or Alan could be seen, as both had gone off somewhere.

"True, Matt. Their day to day lives aren't changing, they're just making it official." Elwood agreed. "The ceremony starts at 10 AM. We're all to meet them at breakfast and look presentable at least."

"Are they doing things the old-fashioned way, like not seeing each other beforehand?"

"No. Melody doesn't believe in those old traditions and superstitions." Lou wound a power cord on his arm, tied it tight, then stowed it in the duffel bag. "She told me about that a long time ago. Never thought she'd get married, but whaddya know!"

Buster laughed, wondering if he would ever get married one day, but that was far off into the future and he wasn't going to waste any time speculating. The teen packed up the equipment with the rest of the band and wondered where Melody and Alan had gone off to.

* * *

Melody was by the stern of the ship, admiring the view of Long Beach in the dark night. She kneaded the taffrail with her fingers, a bit nervous about the next morning.

"I can't believe it!" she spoke to herself. "Finally the dream is coming true. It's almost like I don't deserve it!" before she met Alan, Melody was long resigned to the fact that she would be a spinster when she got older.

When Melody and Alan were first dating, the two had frequent arguments and their schedules were conflicting. It had taken awhile to get everything settled on a routine of one date a week, then twice a week for several months. Neither one of them were used to the other's personalities, the eccentricities and so forth. Melody learned that Alan was a great guy mostly, but he had a few flaws, as he was not an ideal mate in any way. She thought he was too passive when he was driving, she had to badger him into cleaning, and while he was even-tempered most of the time, when he was stressed, Alan had a few triggers which could throw him into a rage.

Still in her costume from the performance, Melody walked away towards the front of the ship, her high heeled shoes making a sharp clacking sound on the weathered hardwood decking. The lights from the wall sconces danced off of her, every now and then a little flash from her shirt caught the light. Because it had been the last performance of their gig, she had worn a purple shirt that had small rhinestones on the collar. The shirt was sleeveless and instead of a skirt, this time she had worn black pants like the band.

Smiling to herself, Melody remembered that before they moved in together, she and Alan would fight infrequently and one would leave the other, only to realize that they were happier with each other than they thought. On a particular occasion after Melody had dumped him for being too demanding, she had gone to the county fair and entered a wet t-shirt contest. She had just won the challenge and Alan ambushed her off of the stage. The two fought, but eventually made up.

The cabin door was opened and Alan looked out to see Melody approaching from the back of the ship. He eyed her up and down, appreciating her as she gave him a smile and a kiss, entering the room.

"Well well, what have we here?" she trailed her hands down his thighs suggestively, giving him a sly wink.

"Read my mind, did you?"

"It's not hard." Melody leaned into him, nudging the door shut with one foot.

"Um, what are we talking about now?"

Boldly she pushed him into the bed while kicking off her pumps. "You'll see."

* * *

At the breakfast that morning, Melody and Alan looked calm enough, both in everyday clothes but they would change later on. They laughed and joked all through breakfast, happy that nobody mentioned the ceremony that would take place.

The bandmembers dressed smart casual, Elwood, Mack and Buster were all in their uniform of black suits as they gathered on the bow of the ship.

Alan turned up wearing his tan chino pants, black shoes, and knowing well Melody's disdain for wearing the color black, he had pulled on a blue short sleeved button up shirt that Melody had bought him years ago. It was a bit chilly outside that morning, so he added his black blazer, leaving it unbuttoned.

Melody came up a few moments later, wearing a white and black pinstriped shirt which had dropped sleeves, and she was wearing her red shorts with flip flops. She had foregone the usual procession, music, and even then was not holding a traditional bouquet. The engineer wore small blue sapphire teardrop shaped earrings Alan had given her, and of course she wore the ring. Even though the earrings and ring had been given to her at different times, it looked like she wore a matched set.

The captain presided over the service, both said their vows perfectly. Before long, the captain pronounced them married. The couple kissed each other as Elwood and Murph took pictures. All of the band cheered and applauded as Melody blushed.

"Oh, by the way," the captain handed Alan a few papers. "a gift from the promotional department."

"What the?" he shuffled through them for a moment. "A stay at the Lido Beach Resort?"

"That place is very popular," Melody looked aghast as she scanned the papers. "plane tickets and everything? That's so generous of them!"

"It sure is! Three nights there, a romance package..." he handed her the documents. Melody found a small envelope with her name on it amongst them. Before she could open it up, Alan took them back. "We've got 20 minutes before we have to be at the airport."

"Oh, OK." receiving their congratulations from the band, Buster kissed Melody on the cheek and gave her the biggest hug he was capable of.

"I'm so happy for you two!" the teenager presented Melody with a single carnation dyed blue, which she put behind her right ear.

Never did Alan think that he would wind up such a lucky man. When he first met Melody, he didn't ever think that he would marry her. It hadn't been love at first sight, as he'd regarded her as someone who had to be tolerated. She had been too boisterous for his taste, too outgoing, but he'd grown to like those facets of her personality among others. As he'd gotten to know her some more, she had grown on him, and he'd protected her the best he could.

"Come on, hon or we'll miss the flight." with a quick round of thanks and goodbyes, they retrieved their baggage from the room and disembarked the ship. Melody gave it a quick glance around as they left in a taxi. She mentally vowed to come back to the ship at some time in the future and go on another ghost hunt. Nobody had been harmed of course, but Melody knew that they were all inwardly relieved to get off the ship.

* * *

Once the happy couple was settled on board the plane bound for Florida, Alan nudged Melody and asked her what the small envelope was in the little pile of papers they had been given. She rooted around in her carryon bag, pulled out the documents, and found the envelope.

"OK, let's see what it has in it," she opened it, scanned it, and gasped. "my god."

"What?"

"Look." Melody handed him the paper.

_"Dear Melody," _Alan started to read._ "please find enclosed in this package two tickets to Sarasota for the Lido beach. I signed you both on for the romance package where you'll get all sorts of goodies and spa treatments, enough for 3 nights and 4 days. Charlene, one of the promoters, told me all about you and how you were getting married on board the Queen Mary. _

_"My apologies I couldn't be there. I'm sure you looked wonderful and that you found a great man from what I remember, though I only met him once. He's a real keeper, he'll be a great husband to you. I seem to remember you two have been together a long time already, so don't second guess yourself, as I know you have a habit of doing._

_"The tickets to Sarasota and the rooms with package are to be done on my dime. It's the least I can do after our over 30 year estrangement. I saw you perform one night of the gig and you were amazing! My sister with the golden voice! _

_"Enjoy yourself and enjoy Alan too if you know what I mean, har har. _

_"Fondly, your brother Jesse Calloway._

"PS: Mrs. Rubin does sound good, right? I like it."

Alan chuckled, not even thinking about it previously. He folded up the letter and handed it back to Melody who put it in her carryon bag. "You are taking my last name, right?"

"Hell yes." she relaxed back.

"Oh, good. I'm so glad." he teased.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen..." the flight attendant began the preflight lecture.  
THE END


End file.
